Medicinal Lullaby
by Shivakashi
Summary: ON HIATUS. Fighting to keep hope in his friend, struggling to come to terms with Jiraiya's death, Uzumaki Naruto doesn't need any more on his plate. Sadly, that's what lands on his doorstep. Literally. Post Manga ch. 406 Naruto-centric MaturING!Naruto
1. The Unwanted Responsibility

**A/N: This story is on HIATUS. Graduating college and getting sucked up by real life is responsible for my first drop off the radar, the manga absolute 'WTF'ness is responsible for my loss of motivation, and moving to another country to teach English for a year is responsible for a lack of future updates. I will finish this story, but right now it is no longer a high priority for me. Sorry!**

**This is a brand new Naruto-fic starting right off from where manga chapter 406 leaves off. It is not related to any of my other fics.**

**Disclaimer: I will say this once and only once...I don't own Naruto. Too bad, so sad.**

**Chapter 1**

_'It must be nice,' _Hatake Kakashi thought to himself as he eyed the villagers milling around, completely oblivious to the dangers that skirted by them every day, _'to be able to make life look so simple, so easy...'_

The jounin sat on the roof of a crumbling hotel with his book open in his left hand and his mind elsewhere.

He grimaced as he recalled his most recent mission and the tense and depressed journey home for their eight-man squad after the latest failed attempt at retrieving Sasuke. The mission had been a disappointment to say the least, and it showed in the stiff shoulders and creased brows of his two remaining students. Kakashi knew quite well that Naruto and Sakura were extremely rash and emotional beings, highly prone to jumping to conclusions and making quick accusations. They both actively sought outlets for whatever overwhelming emotion they were feeling—especially when they were already aggravated. As such, it was fortunate that team eight had the good sense to avoid any unnecessary interaction with their co-team for the rest of their travel.

It seemed that no matter what they did, Sasuke would always just be out of reach and it wore on those kids' hearts every time. It hurt Kakashi to watch, for he knew how they struggled to keep hope, how they refused to face the cold fact that Sasuke did not want to come home. Sakura clung to her vision of returning team seven to what it formerly was while Naruto couldn't bring himself to break a promise. Call it her childish fantasy or his pride, but they were the raw basis for every complicated reason they deluded themselves into believing just to keep the hunt going.

Kakashi was of a different mind. There was still a part of him that wanted Sasuke to be safe—the young prodigy was once a student of his, after all—but Kakashi was far too old and experienced to give little hopes like that any fuel. Sasuke made his decision and he acted out against Konoha and against his former teammates one too many times; there was no redemption for the avenger even if he were to come back beyond these walls. Naruto and Sakura simply refused to see that.

Sometimes Kakashi just wanted to throttle those two before they ended up getting in over their heads.

But now...now he doubted Sasuke was on anyone's mind...

Returning to find that Jiraiya-sama had died at the hands of the Akatsuki was just the icing on the cake for their already dampened spirits. The leader, Pain, had slaughtered Konoha's spymaster, one of the most powerful shinobi produced by Konoha to date. It was enough to send chills down anyone's back.

Rolling his stiff shoulders, the masked ninja stood from his roost and tucked the book away into his vest pocket. He was due to take a mission in a couple days—a good way to get his mind off the devastating news he learned in the Hokage's office just yesterday—though it also came with poor timing. It was bad enough he couldn't be around to help uplift his students with their recent failure, but now he was about to leave Naruto to his own devices after the boy had just found out about his sensei's demise.

The Jounin sighed and hopped down from the roof into the sparsely populated street, starting the long, slow journey to his humble apartment.

Perhaps he could have been a little more sympathetic towards Naruto when the blonde went off the deep end after Tsunade delivered the news. The kid left the office with cold words yesterday afternoon and Kakashi had not seen him since. Iruka was kind enough to inform him that he had briefly spoken with Naruto last night and tentatively believed he had made some progress in calming the poor kid down.

Kakashi's dark eye flitted over the multi-colored heads moving about the avenue and gazed in the direction of Naruto's apartment district. The masked jounin had a small encounter with Shikamaru not long before, one regarding the code Jiraiya-sama had sent using the last of his strength, and had encouraged the young man to do what he could for Naruto.

It was a feeble hope, but Kakashi still hoped. He hoped that if Iruka didn't get through to Naruto then someone closer to his age would.

That boy was too important to this upcoming war to fall victim to his own grief.

**0o0o0o**

* * *

**0o0o0o**

Naruto really, really needed to wash his pillowcase. It smelled like wet moths.

Despite the musty smell, he took another deep breath into the pillow he had face-planted into nearly an hour ago. He simply couldn't bring himself to move from that position; he was far too confused and far too tired.

This was becoming a poor habit of his.

Jiraiya was dead. Sasuke had escaped them. Konoha was on the verge of war. He was being actively hunted by a fanatical group of psychopaths most likely bent on world domination or something of the sort. The list went on and on...

Ever since Naruto had met the man, Jiraiya had been one of the few real constants in his life. For Christ's sake, they had just traveled the world together, forming a bond that was stronger than any other he had ever shared before. Jiraiya was more than just a sensei to him; he was a grandfather, a crazy uncle, a best friend, a tie—his only tie—to his past. And even more than that...he was a Sannin. A legendary _fucking_ Sannin. They don't just _die_! _They don't_...they don't...they...don't...

Naruto let out a soft grunt into the flimsy fabric beneath his mouth. Shikamaru was right, Iruka was right...he couldn't lose himself right now. He had to make that pervert proud. He had to become an awesome ninja so that he could pass on his teachings to the next generation. He had to avenge Jiraiya's death by taking out the Akatsuki.

So then why was it so hard to let go?

He knew what he needed to do: he needed to get out of this dark haze fast and begin training again. But his heart simply refused to let him. Ever since he heard the fatal news directly from Tsunade-baa-chan's lips everything around him seemed to be moving in slow motion. Everything seemed darker, less significant, than the gaping hole that Jiraiya had left in his heart.

The slow recovery from the emotional blow could only be attributed to the many other smaller problems that were plaguing his mind.

Such as Itachi.

What _had_ Itachi done to him back in that forest? What did he mean when he said that he gave him some of his power? Did he _really_ or was it just a trick? It had to have been real—he could feel the change in his body, he was able to recognize an unfamiliar clout within him.

If Naruto were to be completely honest with himself he didn't want any more power—especially if it came from another source. It was bad enough trying to gain control of his own chakra let alone wrestling down the Kyuubi's. He didn't need another power messing with his head.

Of course, he hadn't told anyone about the details of his encounter with Itachi, just that the now-deceased ninja had trapped him in an illusion and escaped. Not even Sakura, who he could hardly look in the eyes these days, suspected anything strange happened between them; she had been too distraught over Sasuke ending up in the Akatsuki's hands.

And what about Sasuke? So many times he had been told to give up on him, so many times he where wanted to listen. But that wasn't who he was; he didn't give up on people—even after they gave up on themselves.

Would he really have to choose between Konoha and Sasuke?

He let out a strangled yell, muffled by the old pillow, as his mood dipped a little lower. What made him feel worse still was the fact that he wasn't going to be going on any long-term missions for a while. After confronting not one, but two, Akatsuki in the last mission, Tsunade had assured him that the council was doing everything in their power to keep him in the safety of the village walls. _Kami forbid_ Konoha lost its trump card during these tremulous times.

Naruto knew it was for the best and he knew that it wasn't a snuff at his skills, but that didn't stop it from angering him all the same. Now he would be stuck in a village that only reminded him of the people he lost everywhere he looked. There was no escaping this temporary Hell, was there?

He was just so _tired_. Tired of smiling and being strong. Tired of carrying the weight of expectations and duty.

_"We can't stay kids forever..."_ Shikamaru's words echoed in his head.

_'I know, I know!'_ Naruto thought angrily to himself, _'But that doesn't make this any easier to deal with!'_

_"Nothing will happen if you keep hesitating..."_

_'I'm not,' _he insisted. _'I just need time.'_

He didn't have time though, did he? The Akatsuki were getting stronger, more and more of Konoha's ninjas were dying, God only knew what Sasuke was up to—

A harsh, rapid knock struck against his front door. The sharp sound jolted him out of the imprint his body had stamped into his mattress as well as saved him from his own depressing thoughts. He rubbed his head and looked at his clock, shocked to see that it _had_ been nearly an hour since he got back to his home after his walk with Shikamaru.

The knock came again and he pushed himself to his feet. He shuffled out of his bedroom, kicking away stray articles of clothing as moved to greet his visitor. The door was wrenched open with one sweeping swing of his arm.

Naruto blinked at the sunlight that assaulted eyes. Once the black spots faded from his vision, he could make out a jounin—judging from the jacket—standing before him with short brown hair and a web-like scar etched across his left cheek.

He certainly looked familiar.

"Ah—Uh..."

"Raido..." the man said stiffly, the scarred face dropping to annoyance. It all came back to Naruto with the name; he had spoken to the jounin a few times before he left for his training trip.

"Oh yeah!" Naruto said while snapping his fingers, "Raido! Sorry. What's up?"

"The Hokage would like to speak with you immediately. She is expecting you in her office in no less than five minutes." Raido said curtly. Naruto blinked at the order and then shrugged.

"Oh, um, alright. Thanks."

He stood in his doorway a moment longer after the jounin had left. He couldn't imagine there could be anything else to discuss with him after yesterday; what else could have happened? It wasn't like she was going to send him on a mission—or an important one at any rate. He was supposed to be meeting Shikamaru tomorrow at the cryptography unit to help break the code Jiraiya sent, so he doubted it had anything to do with that.

Naruto shook the speculations from his mind and stepped out of his apartment. He only hoped this wasn't anything that would bring his spirits even lower.

The last thing he needed right now was more bad news.

**0o0o0o**

* * *

**0o0o0o**

"Hey, baa-chan," the whiskered blonde greeted as he pushed his way into the Hokage's office without so much as a knock for warning. His voice was the same light, blasé tone that he always spoke with but even after three drinks Tsunade could hear the low disenchantment he tried to keep from leaking into his speech. It had been heart wrenching to witness the light suddenly snuff out from those once lively, vivacious irises when she first broke the news of Jiraiya to him—especially for an old woman such as herself. She could clearly remember the dull grey that stared searchingly back at her, denial and disbelief written all over Naruto's otherwise blank expression.

It was a small comfort to see a little more life in his eyes today—nothing like what it used to be, but a good start to a recovery nonetheless. She could only hope that the upcoming conversation wouldn't do anything to hamper that progress.

"Have a seat, Naruto," she said wearily, waving her hand at the single chair across from her. Naruto complied with the simple demand, thinking it weird that she had a chair set out in front of the desk at all. Usually there an open space for ninja to take a briefing stance sufficed.

Tsunade was silent for a moment as he settled himself before her, wondering how where begin. The younger blonde shifted uncomfortably at the stillness. He found it tense and bothersome and he had a vague idea as to why.

"Firstly, Nar—"

"I'm sorry," he said abruptly, shocking the words from her first sentence. Tsunade started at him a moment longer in bemusement and he hurried to continue, flushing just below his collar. "I'm sorry for going off at you yesterday...about Jiraiya I mean...I know you would never, uh, what I mean is that I know he was important to you too and...um..."

Tsunade's mouth closed and a soft smile briefly passed her lips as her shoulders relaxed.

"Apology accepted," she said over his jumbled words, sparing him from struggling further. "Though that was not why I had called you here."

His stiff back seemed to unwind slightly and a bit of the tension he perceived when he first arrived evaporated from the air. Tsunade didn't partake in his ease.

"The first matter I wish to speak with you about concerns Jiraiya..." she said tightly, getting straight to the point and mastering her emotions as she was trained to do. Naruto showed no outward sign of distress, just subdued interest, so she felt confident she could speak freely of his late sensei at this point.

"As you know, a couple of weeks ago he left on a reconnaissance mission in Amegakure, where he gathered information about the leader of Akatsuki." As Tsunade spoke she pulled out a large manila envelope and dropped it on the desk in front of him. "He sent this a few days prior to his death; inside is all the data to date that he has gathered on Akatsuki. I'm giving it to you now."

Naruto saw the older woman's hand clench tightly around the bundled paper before releasing it and a thin bone pulse at her neck. He frowned. It still hurt her to talk about it.

"Me? Why?" he asked dazedly. He leaned forward and took the folder into his hands. Opening it, he pulled a thin stack of papers halfway out, catching a glimpse of Kisame's bio on the top.

"Because..." Tsunade stalled, suddenly not knowing how to tell him this or how it would sound out loud to her own ears, "because now you will be taking over Jiraiya's spy network. You will be our most informed contact on Akatsuki."

Naruto's eyes snapped up from the figures and glared at her cautiously.

"Me?" he asked again for assurance, his voice hard and guarded.

Tsunade forced herself to hold his gaze as she tried to convey a silent message to him: _'Be strong. You can do this.'_

Naruto swallowed in an attempt to keep his first response from spilling out of his mouth and clenched his eyes shut against what was happening. His mind raced with everything those words she just spoke implied. She was asking him to replace Jiraiya—to take over everything the man had worked for in his life, to help further erase him from this world. _How?_ How could he do that?

"I can't...I-I don't think I can," he said quietly, almost calmly, keeping his head bowed as his shoulders huddled inward.

Tsunade was a bit disturbed at the unusually subdued manner in which Naruto took this. She had expected an explosion: screaming, yelling, crying, vandalism...something reminiscent to his first reaction regarding Jiraiya's death. Anything but this. His back was hunched and rigid while his fingernails unconsciously tore into the thin binding of the Akatsuki files; the boy looked ready to bolt at any given minute. There was something extremely unsettling about his attitude, something unstable about his entire aura. She could understand that he was already upset about his greatest loss to date, but perhaps it was too soon to throw such a burden on him all at once.

It may have been a phantom sensation, but Naruto could have sworn that tears started to gather against his lower eyelids. He couldn't understand it, why this simple (or not so simple) request had shaken him so much. He quickly ducked his head again, willing the tears at bay no matter how much his throat and chest hurt.

Shit...how pathetic could he get? Hadn't he just gotten over all this?

Tsunade lifted a hand to reach out to him, only to falter and hesitantly bring it back.

"I'm sorry," she said, as soothingly as she could. "I...I know this must be extremely difficult to hear and everything, and I wish you could take the time to think about this. But I must also ask that you accept this responsibility and try and study these files as soon as possible. Olease. You are the only person in Konoha who knows who all of Jiraiya's contacts were in his spy network. Without him, we are left blind to the Akatsuki movements—we need you to—"

"It's fine," he cut her off sharply. Naruto's head snapped up and, upon spotting the stricken look on Tsunade's face, he repeated in a softer voice, "It's fine. Really. I understand. I can do this. I—I—"

Tsunade's eyes turned gentle and she gave him a sad smile. "Thank you Naruto, I know it is extremely unfair of me to ask this of you, but I also know that you'll come through for us."

"Is...is that all?" he asked hoarsely. His watery vision was locked on the folder held limply in his hand and his body was poised to rise and leave.

Tsunade could hardly stand to keep looking at him, not so long as he looked so freshly devastated, but there was one last piece of news she had to deliver to him—one that was long overdue.

"No. There is one more thing." He didn't relax back into the chair; he remained seated on edge, keeping his eyes lowered. "This one concerns your parentage..."

Naruto drew shallow and shaky breath: it was the subject that had practically become taboo in his mind. True, he had waited years to hear about them; as a child he had been brimming with curiosity as to where he came from. But as he got older he began to care less and less, until he finally reached the point where he dreaded to know. After all, he had become so accustomed to doing everything on his own—so used to defining who he was in the world without any influence but his own experiences—that he was afraid to learn who he "really was". He had long since decided that who he "really was" would be whatever he made himself out to be; he didn't need nor want any name to carry him through life. He didn't want to change his own view of himself.

Despite this mindset he developed, Naruto already had a pretty good idea about who his parents were. Or, at least, who his father was. He could recall a number of times Jiraiya would stumble back to their hotel room, drunk, and call him Minato by accident. Naruto wasn't entirely stupid—he knew the name. He had seen the pictures and the resemblance was uncanny. But it was for that reason alone that he never pressed the issue. He was Uzumaki Naruto and there was no way he was going to become Hokage riding on someone else's heroic deeds. He didn't want the village to suddenly respect him at the drop of the hat upon discovering his lineage. That would defeat the purpose of all he had worked towards, as well as take away from the satisfaction.

Tsunade's eyebrows rose at his lack of response and continued by stating slowly, "Naruto, your father was Namikaze Minato, the fourth Hokage."

Naruto didn't react, having long since come to the conclusion and the proper time to digest everything that it meant—including the fact that his own father had no choice but to condemn him to a cursed life.

His refusal to acknowledge anything she said left the Hokage at a loss.

"I know it must be a lot to take in," she said softly, taking his silence as shock. "Especially considering your tenant. But you must understand, your father only wanted—"

"I know why he did it," Naruto cut her off in another blunt manner that almost had her biting her tongue. He said nothing more and, once again, Tsunade found herself particularly disturbed at his perturbing demeanor.

After fingering the corner of the manila envelope in his lap a little longer Naruto finally asked, "What about my mother?"

It was the true mystery, in his opinion.

"Uzumaki Kushina," Tsunade said with a light smile. "She was an immigrant from the former Whirlpool Country and a rare beauty. You take after her a lot."

"Ah..."

"Is that all you have to say?" she asked, shock clear in her voice. She at least expected him to ask more about his parents: What they were like? How he was like them? Did they love him or not? (To which the answer would have been a large, resounding "YES").

"What do you want me to say?" he replied instead. His voice was hollow and it was obvious that Jiraiya's death and everything pertaining to it was doing its job in overshadowing any proper reactions to the news. "It doesn't change a thing, knowing who they were or not. But thank you, anyway, for telling me. Now can I leave?"

"Yes," Tsunade sighed. Her shoulders sagged with a weight nearly as heavy as his heart was at the moment. She watched Naruto rise with troubled eyes, frowning at the bangs that shadowed his face and barely hearing the light footfalls of him exiting her office. Tsunade laid her head on her desk as the door shut. She was really getting too old for this job. She didn't think she could wait much longer for Naruto to grow up and take over.

After all, it was never a good sign when your heart hurt more than your body...especially at her age.

**0o0o0o**

* * *

**0o0o0o**

A young, pink-haired kunoichi moved through the sparsely populated halls of the Hokage administration building with the slow, distracted walk of someone deep in thought. Her spirits had been particularly low since Sasuke slipped through their fingers again—they had been _so close_, Naruto's clone had run into him and _everything_, and now all they knew was that Sasuke was injured and taken by the Akatsuki. To make matters worse, things seemed to have only gone downhill since they got back to Konoha; Jiraiya-sama had been killed. Not only was Naruto hurt immensely but the barely concealed pain exuding from her normally unshakable master had herself feeling cold and unsure.

The thought of losing a teammate, a friend whom the Hokage had known almost an entire lifetime...well, Sakura couldn't begin to imagine how her sensei felt at the moment.

Man, she would never get to sleep tonight.

Sighing, Sakura lifted her head as she approached the door to her master's office, only to narrowly avoid walking into the person who just exited.

"Naruto!" she exclaimed at the blonde who strode right by her. He must have not noticed her. "What are you doing here?"

She saw his back stiffened at the sound of her voice and she frowned. The boy had hardly spoken to her since they returned to Konoha, not since he stormed out of the Hokage's office yesterday. She almost went to check up on him at his apartment last night, her concern for his mental and emotional health getting the better of her, but at the last minute decided to let him cool off first. Now she regretted her decision because he was sending of an aura of isolation, like she had missed a crucial opportunity to get her foot in the door and have him open up to her.

Naruto turned his face a little so that she could see the slope of his cheekbone and the profile of his lashes, but never moved his body around. He didn't want her to know he was about ready to break down again; then she would ask questions, and then he would have to explain. He couldn't explain anything right now...and he couldn't explain why. He couldn't explain what he was feeling. He just wanted to go home. He was far too emotional right now and he could hardly handle it.

"I had to talk to Baa-chan," he said huskily. Kami, he hoped she would just take the answer and go away.

"Oh?" Sakura took a step closer to him and he lowered his face, clearly conveying that he didn't want her near him. She bit her lip and pressed lightly, "What about?"

For a fraction of a second, Naruto actually considered telling her everything that was wrong in his life at this point. How Itachi had done something to him, how Sasuke had not only slipped through his fingers again but was a potential threat to Konoha, that his sensei was _dead_, damn it, that he had to re-orchestrate a spy network...but the thought yanked back the minute it emerged and he kept his mouth shut.

Sakura frowned at his silence as well as his tense posture. It was obvious that something aside from Jiraiya left him extremely upset—he seemed in worse condition than before. Strangely silent and withdrawn, like he was trapped in his own mind. He wouldn't look at her, but she could see the slight tremble of his hands and hear the raw emotion in the few words he spoke to her. Sakura couldn't imagine anything that would cause him to act like this unless it pertained to the latest devastation in his life, so she went ahead and assumed the most obvious choice.

"Naruto," she said as soothingly as she could while reaching forward and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll crack that code Jiraiya-sama left us; we'll destroy the Akatsuki. His death won't be in vain, I promise."

She could feel his body give a slight shudder under her fingers. Her hand gave a small squeeze, recognizing that the subject as still extremely sensitive to him.

"What's that in your hand?" she continued on as she noticed the files gripped in his fist and tugging lightly on his shoulder to turn him around. "Is that a new mission?"

Naruto jerked his shoulder out of her reach and squared his back to her.

"No. It's nothing," he said far harsher than he intended. He winced, unseen by Sakura, wishing he could have more control over his emotions.

"You don't have to snap at me!" Sakura snapped back herself. "I was just asking!"

Naruto could feel a few eyes turn on them and he shrunk in on himself. For once he didn't want attention. For once he wanted to be alone.

"Not now, Sakura," he said tetchily, taking a step away from her. She stopped him with her hand back on his shoulder, this time her grip tighter.

"Please, Naruto! Tell me what is wrong with you! I only want to help! I—you're scaring me, please—"

"No! I said _not now_!" This time his voice had risen to a sharp bark and he flung himself away from her, no longer caring who was looking at them anymore.

Sakura did not take kindly to him yelling at her. "Why are you being such an ass? Why can't you just talk to me?"

She couldn't have another teammate pull away.

"I have to go," Naruto mumbled, not rising to her challenge. Sakura watched him walk away from her, her anger at his attitude conflicting strongly with her concern over his behavior.

"Leave him be, Sakura."

The young woman turned back around to see the Hokage standing in the doorway of her office with her arms crossed under her bust and staring off at where Naruto had just been.

"But shishou...what is wrong with him? What's going on? Does this have to do with Jiraiya-sama or Sasuke?" She was so confused. She already lost one teammate and now another seemed to be slipping farther and farther away from her. "Why isn't he telling me anything?"

The pig-tailed woman closed her eyes and drew in a small breath.

"Sakura...you're going to have to be patient with him. Just give him his space; he has a lot he needs to work out right now. But when he is ready to talk, don't...don't let him put up a tough front for you."

Sakura cocked her head to the side and furrowed her brows, "Huh?"

Her master simply sighed once again and returned to her desk, hoping that Naruto would pull through this.

**0o0o0o**

* * *

**0o0o0o**

Naruto moved in a zombie-like trance down the moderately crowded streets. After bumping into the fourth person his subconscious had the prudence to move his body to back roads and alleyways, giving him an encounter-free trip back to his apartment. It really should take over more often.

He only realized he reached his home when he found himself kicking his door open with the side of his foot while pulling the key out of the lock. The hinges were well in need of oiling as a cringe-worthy screech erupted from the rusted bolts. He flicked the lights on and threw the key and envelope on a heavily dented coffee table while toeing off his shoes—all a highly practiced ritual devoid of thought.

Nothing passed through his mind at the moment. Even as he drifted into the kitchen and set about boiling some water for ramen—ramen he had no appetite for—his mind stayed blissfully blank. He felt a familiar numbness that came with being overwhelmed and he was fine with it so long as he didn't have to feel the unbearable pain he knew was just lurking behind the thin wall he had thrown up. If he didn't think, he couldn't feel. So he wouldn't think about the newest burden Tsunade had so generously granted him, he wouldn't think about the heritage that had been denied to him for so many years for whatever reasons. He would pretend he never even went to see the Hokage that afternoon for as long as he could allow it.

Opening the cupboard he was greeted with several different flavors of his favorite salty noodles. Now which one did he want today? Pork always seemed to fill him up, but there was something soothing about chicken and he could definitely use the comfort. On the other hand, he couldn't go wrong with miso—

A soft knocking on the hollow wood of his door interrupted his crucial decision making process. He stuck his head out of the kitchen and glared at the worn plank of wood, debating whether he should pretend to be asleep or something. He wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone—he didn't think he could ever talk to anyone again.

If it was Sakura, she would probably want Naruto to explain what was going on at the Hokage's office, or to hash out what went down in the hallway, because she could never let it sit that he had brushed her off—unjustly as it might have been.

If it was Kakashi Naruto would just kick the Jounin in the balls for leaving him stuck in Konoha for a week without missions.

And if it was anyone with any more _news_...

The knocking came again, this time a little harder.

"Fine, fine..." he grumbled, stalking toward the door. He walked past his coffee table, refusing to look at the folder, refusing to acknowledge any of it just for a little while longer. He reached the handle and wrenched it open, already armed with a number of excuses to make his visitor go away.

An odd humming noise escaped his mouth instead of the words he so carefully prepared in his mind. His brain shut down as he was greeted with the sight of the last person he ever thought he would see standing in his doorway.

She still had the same shining, hazel eyes that he remembered, the same thick, wavy, lavender hair and the same one-dimpled smile. The only real difference he noticed from all those months ago was her height; some of the baby fat had left her cheeks making her seem older than he recalled. That and her clothes looked a lot less tasteful; the bulky grey cloak look worn and drab and the brown boots were peeling from their soles—nothing like the elegant garments he was used to seeing her in.

Oh yes, and she was also heavily pregnant.

**0o0o0o0o0o**

* * *

**0o0o0o0o0o**

Tra-laaa! I ish back! :3

Damn, there were so many times during the summer I wanted to get this story up, but I kept hesitating. Bah, well it's up now and I'm trying to coincide it with the current manga for as long as I can while keeping the same plot. I like writing, and throwing these out here, and entertaining you all! This first chapter is actually the worst, IMO...compared to the rest of the chapters I wrote, anyway. I had a lot of fun writing this, and it helped that I got so many PMs from people asking about it. It kept me inspired to keep writing.

There is no set pairing at the moment. Naruto will be with an OC for a while, but then it may be a bit of a tossup. If Naruto ends up with someone (and please bear in mind that this is _not_ a romance fic), the most likely candidate would be Sakura, only because it's the most cannon to me and comes to me more naturally.

Also, with my return comes the lovely—er—I mean _manly_ **strider714**, my editor and sanity checker.

Now let's hear some reviews!


	2. Kensha revealed

**Chapter 2**

Naruto could only stare in stupefaction at the young woman before him as an onslaught of memories flooded his mind.

_**:FLASHBACK:**_

Earth country was always a dangerous place for a Konoha shinobi to be; even when it had been nearly fifteen years since the last Great War. Still, that didn't stop the legendary Sannin Jiraiya and his apprentice from traipsing through the rocky terrain as though they had not a care in the world. The country just happened to be next on their agenda, and the toad sage had a number of earth ninjutsu he planned on teaching his apprentice. Their cash flow had been falling a little low, so they did what they always did in such a situation and sought freelance mission pay. It was just their luck that a daimio of Earth country was in need of a couple of shinobi for a B-rank mission.

The man was one of the most paranoid individuals either of the two travelers had ever met. He was neurotic and strict, speaking in short, gruff tones and not trusting any of his own shinobi to guard his daughter while he went on a two-week long business trip. That one of the Sannin was willing to take the mission was a dream come true for him; Jiraiya's illustrious name was simply enough to put the man at ease.

What the man didn't know was that Jiraiya had no intention of babysitting some spoiled princess and had every intention of pawning the job off on his apprentice so that he could explore the shadier parts of the village they were in. But what the daimio didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

For the past couple of weeks Jiraiya had enjoyed the mild, cloudless weather Earth country had to offer, spending every night with a different woman while Naruto stood guard over the princess personally. The young girl was about seventeen years old and had a very meek personality. It was obvious why the daimio wanted his daughter guarded; it seemed the girl had hardly been allowed outside the castle her whole life. She was drawn and pale, speaking in soft tones and extremely shy around any male character. Naruto had his work cut out for him.

But this evening was going to be different. Tonight, the great toad hermit Jiraiya, the man who could make a woman cream herself just by winking, would perform an act of great selflessness.

"Just where do you think you're going?" he asked in his baritone voice without even looking up from his notebook. Naruto, who was halfway out of the room they were sharing in the castle, dropped the backpack he had slung around his shoulder and glanced back.

"Ah-ha ha, Ero-sennin...w-when did you get back?" he could have sworn the old man had already left for his nightly extravaganzas. Yet here he was, suddenly sitting on the window sill with his customary notepad and pen.

"Taking that chick out for another date, I see," Jiraiya suggested instead of answering. He could see the checkered corner of a hastily packed picnic blanket sticking out from Naruto's bag and grinned, "What would her father say if he found out you've been secretly going against his orders and letting his precious daughter out of the castle?"

"Eh? I don't know what you're talking about," the blonde stubbornly replied, crossing his arms and putting his nose in the air. The blush was obvious nonetheless.

"Whatever you say kid," the Sannin laughed, shaking his head, "But tonight you won't be needing that backpack."

Naruto glared at him suspiciously, "Why...?"

"Well, seeing as it was your fifteenth birthday a few weeks ago, a special day for any young man, and we never got a chance to celebrate it, I will give you the greatest present of all!"

Normally Naruto would be off the walls with excitement and jabbering a mile a minute at the mention of receiving a present (in addition to his new suit Jiraiya paid for). However, this was Ero-sennin and after traveling with the man for two years straight he knew exactly what his idea of a "gift" was.

"Ero-sennin, you are not taking me to a brothel," he deadpanned, picking up the bag he dropped and preparing to leave again.

"Wha—," Jiraiya seemed to deflate a moment before puffing up once more, "It's time you become a man!"

"You're a bit late for that..." the blonde muttered. Honestly, for a Sannin and a supposed master of intel, the man could be very unobservant and uninformed. All the times when they stopped in villages and Naruto would sneak off with kids his own age, or kids older, while Jiraiya spent the night with some woman, Naruto always assumed that Jiraiya knew what he was doing and just didn't care. He had always figured the Sannin had played ignorant of his juvenile deliquescing and wanderings. Apparently the man really didn't know what was going on. It only proved how much Jiraiya actually paid attention to him outside of training.

In his musings, Naruto missed the amused tinkle in his sensei's eye.

"Besides," Naruto said a bit louder, "I need to watch over Kensha-chan since I can't trust _you_ to."

Now here Jiraiya was faced with a situation: either he could take this opportunity to pawn the mission on to Naruto for another night and enjoy the fine, shapely women of Earth country, or he could be the adult and allow the boy to have a night off anyway after spending the last two weeks doing their mission for them alone, and in doing so sacrificing crucial research time.

"...well if you say so kid!" and he was out the window.

Naruto sighed and shook his head; sometimes he honestly had to wonder if he went on a training trip for parenthood. He continued his journey out of their room and through the complex halls of the palace. Tonight he promised Kensha-chan that he would take her to the nearby plains and show her the sunset from outside the castle walls.

A low growl erupted from his throat as he thought back to the day he found out about Kensha-chan's sad life.

_:FLASHBACK (within a flashback):_

She had been sitting in that same spot on the cushioned sill of the giant window for nearly twenty minutes, just looking out over the majestic sight of the prosperous village. There were small dents in the pillow from prolonged periods of sitting, showing that this was a pastime she did often. Naruto shifted from his spot against the wall. As a ninja guard he should have been hidden, watching her silently. But that just wasn't something he found was easy for him; he liked interaction. He always had trouble with things such as sneaking around or attacking from behind, it wasn't tactical, just instinctual, and he had a feeling that it had something to do with his tenant.

"Soooo..." he said, trying to break the awkwardness, "is this the only thing you do?"

She spared him a sad, longing look before turning back to the open window.

"This is my favorite thing to do; pretend I am one of them," she was referring to the tiny dots of town's people, milling about below as they took their freedom for granted.

"Well why don't you go outside? It's a beautiful day out," he tried. He didn't like to see such a pretty girl look so sad.

Oh god, now he was sounding like Jiraiya...

"My father has hardly let me out of the castle," she sighed, "He'd kill me _and_ you if he ever found out you let me outside. He's too over protective; he can't even see that he's stifling me."

She finished her statement somewhat contemptuously.

"He only loves you," Naruto said softly.

"What would you know?" she snapped. It wasn't loud or harsh, but it was probably the most strongly he had heard her speak yet.

Naruto looked away, knowing she was right, "Sorry."

She shook her head, running a pale, manicured hand over her face.

"No, don't apologize. I shouldn't be taking this out on you. And you shouldn't even be here either. He doesn't like any men talking to me."

Naruto bit his lip, suddenly feeling a whole new ire for this man who was paying him to watch over his daughter. It felt more and more like he was being paid to guard a prisoner. Couldn't the daimio see that his daughter was breaking under the strict confinements he was putting her under? Couldn't he understand her need for sunlight and contact?

His eyes steeled over and with full resoluteness he stepped up onto the ledge of the window.

"Come on."

Kensha saw a hand presented to her face. She followed the arm it was attached to up to the clear, blue eyes of her guard. It was obvious what he was asking of her.

"What?" she peeped softly, feeling as though she were hallucinating.

"Come on," he repeated, "What your father doesn't know won't hurt him."

"You—you're taking me out of the castle?" she gasped. Excitement filled her, as did hope. Hope she knew better than to feel, "But he'll find out—he'll have you thrown in jail! You don't know my father—!"

He cut her off by crouching down in front of her and pressing his finger to her lips. He didn't seem to notice the blush bloom on her cheeks, and if he did he didn't say anything about it. She couldn't help it; she had never been touch by a man before, especially in a place as intimate as her lips.

Gently, he took her hand in his and pulled her to her feet. She wobbled a bit on the ledge of the sill, remembering the last time she had been in such a position, looking down the three story fall. It was nearly two years ago when her depression had reached its peak—but she had chickened out in the end and continued to live out her dreary life.

"Climb onto my back," he commanded, turning around and bending his knees slightly to make her mounting easier. Hesitantly, she did as she was told, wrapping her arms around his neck and blushing further when she felt his hands grip the underside of her knees.

That was the first time of many that Usukane Kensha was taken out of the boundaries her father had set for her since her mother died. The young man who was set to guard her not only opened her up to the world outside the castle, but gave her such an insight on life that she found herself reevaluating everything she knew. She opened up to him, falling victim under the soft gaze of those sapphire eyes and pouring her soul out into his willing hands. He wanted to heal her heart, and he started by showing her what it was to be cared for by a man.

It was the second day of sneaking her out of the castle that he kissed her. It was chaste and on the cheek, but it left her yearning for more contact from the ninja. Being isolated for so long left her with a needy attachment to him and she continued to push for his undivided attention, as well as his touch.

_:END FLASHBACK (in a flashback):_

The next two weeks had flown by and everyday Naruto grew a little fonder of the young woman who clung to him so desperately. He didn't mind all the attention she began to demand from him because, in truth, he had always wished to be needed in such a way. He planned on making his last "date" with her a memorable one, and so far it had been.

He had taken her to the plateaus overhead of the village and the pair dined on some prepared food from the staff kitchens, cuddled together on the picnic blanket and watching the stars increase their intensity against the fading colors of the sunset. She was now settled snugly between his legs, her back pressed against his chest while his arms wrapped around her body to keep her from being chilled from dusk's cooling earth.

The comfortable silence was broken by her usual soft-spoken voice, "You're leaving tonight aren't you?"

"Yes," he said, looking out over the valley. His voice was even but his arms tightened their hold on her. She was silent for a moment, staring in the same direction he was.

"Take me home," she said abruptly without even looking at him. He glanced down at her, concerned. She shifted out of his grip and stood, "Now please."

"Okay," he replied to her command. She stood, stoically gazing over the darkening sky as he cleaned up after their picnic. She was silent when she climbed onto his back as well as all throughout their trip back to the castle. Naruto was both nervous and hurt by her sudden change in attitude. He knew parting would have been sad for them, but he didn't think she'd take it out on him. He couldn't stay in this place much longer if he wanted to continue his training regimen.

They reached the open window of her bedroom on the third-story tower and landed on the sill cushion in their usual fashion. She slowly slid down from his back, her arms dragging across the tight, developing shoulder muscles as she did so. Thin, satin curtain billowed around them from the nightly wind, creating a magical atmosphere.

"Well, good night princess," he bid her his last farewell with just the slightest bit of remorse seeping through. He turned to jump out the window—the very window they made their daily exits—when a surprisingly strong grip on his wrist pulled him backwards.

He turned back to her, his eyes asking his question for him.

"You...you gave me something to look forward to," she whispered into the darkened room, "For the first time in my life I had a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Please, you mean so much to me; I want to remember you forever."

Naruto stepped off of the window sill, evening his height out with hers. She may have been a couple years older than him, but it wouldn't be long before he shot past her stature. Too bad he would never get the chance to compare. He brought the back of his hand up to her cheek, rubbing the soft skin there.

"Kensha..."

"Stay with me tonight," she pleaded. Her hands were clutching at the front of his jacket—the new orange and black one he got just before they entered Earth Country. She rested her forehead against his collarbone and closed her eyes, "Please. I can't even tell you how much I need you right now."

Naruto wrapped his arms around her shoulders and held her against his body, burying his nose into the mauve locks that smells of orchids. As a Jinchuuriki, he knew that his name held a heavy stigma back in his hometown. Despite the law the third installed, the damage had already been done; it was hard enough to get people to like him in Konoha let alone have a relationship with him. Here was a beautiful young woman who knew him as just Naruto, nothing more, nothing less, and she wanted him for who he was. Granted she wasn't the most stable mind he had come across, but he wasn't one to talk either. This young woman had shown him a whole new kind of affection he had never even known had existed, one that he had never been exposed to as an orphan. He couldn't deny her this, and he couldn't deny himself either.

"Whatever you wish."

_**:END FLASHBACK:**_

He had left her unconscious form that night with a parting kiss on the cheek and a whispered apology. That was a few months shy of a year ago, which was why he was extremely surprised to see the very same girl before him, a large duffle bag slung over her shoulder, and looking exhausted and pleased all at once.

"I found you!" she cried out in relief, dropping the hood of her traveling cloak to release some of the long strands of hair tucked up inside, "I can't believe I finally found you!"

Naruto continued to stare at her, at a complete loss. He wanted to hug her and question her at the same time, to figure out what was going on, why she was here and _what_ _happened_ to her. But his body refused to move has he stared transfixed on her bulging tummy. He was sure he had some sort of idiotic, dumbfounded look plastered on his face but he couldn't bring himself to start any kind of movement. Kensha seemed to understand exactly what was going through his head and placed a delicate hand on the swell of her stomach.

"It's yours," she said in little more than a whisper. The smile was still in place but her eyes spoke of self-consciousness and fear. The words pulled the air from his lungs as if he were punched in the stomach.

"M-mine?" he gasped out, the sheer surrealism of the situation leaving him temporarily numb from horror or panic, "But...but that can't be! You said you were on birth control..."

She bit her lip, appearing to shrink in on herself at his displeased reaction.

"I was!" she insisted, "I don't know how it happened, but you were the only guy I was ever with! You know my father had me practically under lock and key and that's why...when I couldn't hide it anymore he..." her eyes became tearful and it was clear that the emotional rollercoaster coupled with the pregnancy had already taken its toll on the poor girl.

Automatically he was at her side, holding her smaller frame to his body in an instinctual act of comfort. He didn't want to cause her more pain than what she'd obviously already been through and Naruto suddenly felt like an ass for not inviting her in yet. He grabbed her bag from her with one hand while wrapping the other arm around her shoulders to lead her inside.

"Don't worry about it," he hushed her, trying to keep himself together for her sake. It was all too much for him to take in at the moment...that he wasn't even sixteen yet and he got a woman pregnant, "I'll take care of everything."

He would. No matter what, she wasn't going to suffer anymore, not while she was under his care.

He set her down on the broken in couch, smoothing back her hair from her face. Their eyes met, blue against hazel, and it seemed like an eternity passed as the reality that they were once again in each other's presence hit them. Naruto could hardly get over the overwhelming amount of relief and happiness that shined back at him from her eyes, and he knew it was all because she was with him now. The feeling of being needed so much was quite welcome, especially after his return to Konoha brought back some of the old loneliness that lingered there.

The high pitched whistle of his tea kettle went off, jerking them both apart. Naruto hopped up from the couch and began to hurry over to the kitchen to quell the noise.

"Um, do you mind ramen?" he threw over his shoulder.

She smiled and shook her head, placing her hand on her stomach once more, "I eat just about everything under the sun these days."

He smiled as he turned off the burner, pulling out two miso-flavored cup ramen and pouring the boiled liquid into each one. He carried the two self-preparing meals back into his sitting room and handed one to Kensha.

"Alright," he said once he settled at her side with his own ramen, and for once with the patience to wait three minutes, "Tell me everything."

She took a deep breath and began her tale. She told him how she found out about her pregnancy about a month after he left and how for the first trimester she managed to hide it from her father with the help of her servants. She told him how her father eventually discovered her secret when she began to show too much and had been pushing her for an abortion. She spoke of her escape from the feudal castle she had spent the majority of her life locked away in, and trembled as she described the terror of being out alone in the world, while pregnant no less, with hardly any resources or know how. She had traveled from town to town, usually with a traveling caravan or merchant faction, slowly making her way to fire country, and often having to stay in a village where some old couple would take pity on her and help her out for a while. She tried to explain her frustration at how hard it was to locate Konoha when she finally made it into Fire County, mentioning all the close calls with rogue-nins and bandits that she just barely avoided. Even a pregnant woman wouldn't have been spared from most lowlifes like that. And finally she had made it to the gates of Konoha, where she was let in with no questions, hardly a threat to anyone. She asked around, eventually finding a nice man and his daughter in—low and behold—a ramen stand that were kind enough to point out his apartment to her.

Naruto hadn't realized he was holding her hand by the end of the tale, his half-eaten cup of ramen cooling on the unpolished coffee table. It probably happened some time while she was describing the hardships of traveling in the wilderness alone and pregnant, just to find him.

"Wow...Kensha," he mumbled in torturous, low tones, "I—I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I promise you, you'll never, ever have to experience that loneliness again. You shouldn't have had to in the first place."

As he said it his features momentarily darkened, thinking about her bastard father who drove her out of the safety of her home in her delicate condition. Kensha seemed to be able to read the flicker of emotion perfectly.

"It's ok. It was worth it, all of it was, just to be here with you now."

She said it so frankly and so honestly that he couldn't help but blush. He averted his gaze to the significant bump practically resting in her lap. It looked misplaced on her otherwise slender frame—she probably hadn't been eating enough.

"So...do you know when it's due?" he asked. She followed his gaze to her stomach and a loving smile transformed her tired face beautifully; it was obvious the young woman was already in love with the child growing inside her.

"I have about a month left," she answered, her hands on their usual resting place around her bellybutton, "and _it_ is a _she_."

"A girl," he mumbled in awe and for some unfathomable reason he felt...giddy, "M-may I?"

She understood his barely worded request and nodded, grabbing one of his hands and placing it over the heat radiating out of the thin cloak. It wasn't soft as he had imagined; the bulge was firm and it was obvious that the skin was stretched tight across it. But he could feel life beneath his palm. As a trained ninja he could sense the other chakra source—undefined as it was—and could recognize its likeness to his own.

For the first time since he opened his front door, the reality of the situation hit him. This was his baby, she was a part of him, alive and breathing and eating within a woman who seemed completely devoted to him. His other hand automatically rose to join the first on sensing his daughter; he wanted to get as close to the tiny source of life as he could.

Kensha wasn't the only one who spilled their past out during those two weeks they courted. She knew to some degree of Naruto's own lonely existence, of his insecurities and hopes and dreams. She placed her smaller hands over his slightly trembling ones, in a symbolic gesture of connecting all three of them.

"You're going to have a family, Naruto."

He jerked a bit as the weight of her words settled in his mind. He was fifteen and going to be a father, he had the world's most powerful organization trying to kill him, he had a demon sealed inside him, his sensei was just killed and he was in charge of operating a spy network, but somehow...it was ok. Gazing at Kensha, who showed nothing but love and loyalty towards him, who abandoned a life of comfort and safety just to be with him, who was carrying his _child_, he knew everything was going to be just ok. Because he wasn't alone...and now he really had something worth protecting.

Excitement flooded him, the kind that every father-to-be felt when they first discover that they made life—there was the usual fear of not being able to support them, the nervousness of being a bad parent, but the prospect of having a family for the first time in his life, an actual _family_, overshadowed any negative emotion at that moment.

"A family," he whispered, rubbing his hands over the hardened swell. Kensha could only watch in endearment as hope reflected clearly from Naruto's weary face. She found it funny how enthralled he seemed with her stomach.

"She can hear you, you know," she informed him. He looked up at her in disbelief.

"The baby?" he asked for clarification. She giggled and nodded.

"There were three different women in particular who I housed with for a while; each one had children of their own at one point or another. They told me a lot about babies and gave me several books on parenting. Anyway, I've been talking to her a lot since she's been my constant companion. It helps her start a bond with me as her mother."

She couldn't help but giggle again as Naruto continued to gape at her. He had no idea this pregnancy stuff was so complicated.

"So I can just...I can just talk to her through your stomach?" she nodded and he slowly lowered his face until his mouth was barely touching her stomach.

"Hi baby. I'm your daddy," he started out in little more than a whisper and his heart flipped at those words; _he was a daddy_, "It looks like I'm going to have to do some extra D ranked missions because I'm gunna need the extra cash to spoil you," The belly shook a little as Kensha laughed quietly. Naruto grinned, "And I bet you're going to be the most beautiful baby ever when you come out here—"

He cut himself off as he sprang back from the baby.

"Was that—? Did she just—?"

Kensha laughed again at his excitement, "Yes, she just kicked. See? She agrees with you. And now that she's heard your voice, she'll recognize you."

"Wow..." Naruto whispered his hands back on her stomach in an instant. He was completely overwhelmed with the prospect of fatherhood. He already felt so attached to this child, with whom he had little more than an hour's contact with.

He looked back at the woman who made it all possible, even though they were unprepared and the timing was unfortunate, and he leaned forwards to kiss her full on the lips. He was careful not to put too much weight on her stomach as she returned his affections with barely suppressed fervor.

Kensha moaned softly into the kiss, joining their hands once again on her stomach. She had been craving his touch for so long and now she finally had him. She didn't have to spend every night wondering if she would be raising their child alone, wondering if their daughter would be fatherless. He was here with her now and everything would be okay in the end.

He pulled back away from her, "I'm sorry I wasn't around until now. I promise I'll be the best father our daughter could have."

Kensha's hormones had been out of whack for months, and no matter how much she cursed them within her mind, his words still worked in bringing more tears to her eyes. Tears of happiness because there was nothing more she could ask of him.

"Thank you," she whispered, closing her eyes and resting her forehead against his.

He hesitated only for a second before adding, "And I'll marry you."

Her eyes flew open as she gasped, hoping to God she hadn't just misheard him.

"W-what?"

He stared at her solemnly, conveying that he was completely serious, and clasped her hands between his own.

"Kensha, I'm not going to do this half-assed. This is our child, and she deserves the best, that means a real mother and father right? I care a lot about you, and I know I may not be your first choice for a husband—"

"I can't imagine myself with any other man besides you!" she cried out, cutting him off. She blushed at the boldness of her sudden confession as well as his startled look. "I—I understand you're not in love with me or anything...but I can't change the way I feel about you. I've loved you since the first time you took me out of that window! Even if these last few months have been horrible, it's all been worth it just to be with you!"

Naruto's eyes were impossibly wide as his brain tried to wrap around the concept that someone loved him. Someone just confessed their love to him. _Him._ The demon kid...

He struggled to gather his wits while fighting down the blush that crept up on him after her declaration. He had to be honest with her; he wasn't about to start a relationship on falsehoods and white lies.

"Look...I may not be _in _love with you, but I do love you in a way. I mean, I think I was in the process of falling for you back then…," he scratched the side of his neck; he was never very good at describing his emotions, he did better through actions, "What I'm trying to say is...I do love you. And I want to marry you so that each day I can fall a little more in love with you. I want this to work. This _will_ work."

Tears continued to leak from her eyes as she leaned in towards his face, placing her hands on his chest, "Really? You mean it?"

"Yes," he answered simply and honestly.

She broke down in sobs.

Alarmed, Naruto cautiously touched her shoulders, "H-hey, what's wrong? What happened? Was it something I said?"

She shook her head, trying to calm her breathing.

"I'm sorry—I didn't mean to break down like this...it's just...these last few months have been so hard. Traveling alone, trying to track you down," he winced, feeling especially guilty at her hardships on his behalf, "I'm just so relieved that I finally found you and that I don't have to be alone anymore."

He smiled softly at her and leaned in to grant her a tender peck on the lips. Even after all they did together in those two weeks she still couldn't keep the blush off her face from such simple contact.

"Come on," he murmured against her lips, "let's get you settled in my room. You look like you could use a bath and some sleep."

She gave him a tired, grateful smile and nodded, allowing herself to be whisked off through his small home.

While she was bathing in the warm bath he prepared (and he insisted that she take as long as she wanted) he hurriedly rushed around his house in a flurry, using his clones to tidy up his apartment as best he could. While his clones took care of the basic messes that come with a (former) bachelor guy, he personally unpacked her bag, clearing out a couple drawers of his dresser for just her stuff and placing the large number of baby books on a shelf. He then changed the sheets of his bed and grabbed an extra pillow for her comfort.

By the time she finished her bath and came out of the bathroom with damp hair and garbed in large, comfortable looking sweats, his house was looking significantly cleaner. She seemed to notice the difference too if her knowing smile was any indication. He showed her his room—which was now her room at his avowal—and helped her into the bed as her movements were rather restricted at that point in the pregnancy.

"Good night," he whispered, leaning over her and pecking her on the lips. She gave him a tired, half-smile, her exhaustion more evident than ever now that the adrenaline of finally finding him wore down. He felt another pang in his chest at the thought of what she had to go through, pregnant.

"You don't have to worry about anything anymore," he promised her, smoothing back her hair from her forehead, "I'll take care of everything."

Her eyes were closed but her smiled widened, showing him that she heard him perfectly. With one last kiss on her forehead, he stood up and left the room. Just before he could shut the door behind him he heard her barely mumbled words.

"Naruto...you'll make a great father...I can already tell..."

Swallowing, he closed the door with an audible click. He could no longer pretend that everything was alright anymore. Jiraiya _was_ dead, Sasuke _was_ in the hands of the Akatsuki, and there _was_ a manila folder on his coffee table, full of responsibilities he _wasn't_ ready for...

Turning around and pressing his back against the flimsy woodwork, his body slowly slid down to the floor.

There _was_ a woman behind that door who was pregnant with the demon kid's child. _His child_.

"Oh God..."

His legs curled up to his chest as his face planted into his knees.

"...oh...oh God..."

His hands came up and gripped hair tightly, trying to cover the overwhelming need to cry with pain.

"Why..._why...why...why...?_"

What the hell was he going to do?

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Yay for biscuits!

Poor Naruto doesn't realize that this is only the beginning...

So now we know a little bit more about this OC, and yes, Kensha is an OC, please don't go scrolling through all the mangas just to try and figure out who the hell this chick is. I can tell you now, this fic will not be centered on her and she isn't a main character. Her and Naruto's relationship has a lot of...uh, psychological ties I guess.

Thank you for the love-er-ly reviews :) THAY MAKE ME SO HAPPY!! And thank **strider417** for editing (even though he DID say I was getting better with my grammer...teehee)

R&R O.o


	3. The Shifting Priorities

**Chapter 3**

He was going to be a father.

He was going to have a family.

He was a Jinchuuriki and had a stigma attached to his name as though he was the Kyuubi's itself.

He had the world's most powerful organization of nuke-nin trying to capture and kill him; a faction that had already demonstrated, more than once, that they had no problem in killing anyone who came in between them and their goal.

How was he supposed to support Kensha and their daughter when he was barely making ends meet himself? How was he supposed to protect his "family" when he couldn't even save his friend from self-destruction? How was he supposed to get strong enough?

He wrapped his arms around his legs and curled into a tighter ball as though to hide away from the world.

How did this happen? She was on birth control! Hell, he'd seen her take it every day, so he knew this wasn't some sick ploy to get him for herself. So how the _hell_ could this happen?

The atmosphere shifted around him—he could feel it—and he opened his eyes not to the peeling paint of his small hallway but to the murky confinements of the seal. The demon clearly wanted to talk to him about something if he had been pulled out of consciousness so suddenly.

"Kyuubi? What the hell do you want?" he called out fearlessly to the darkness behind the bars. Movement was detected, though unseen, and rank breath washed over him as the Kyuubi chuckled darkly.

"**Such impudence. I merely wished to discuss with you the circumstances of the unborn kit. I can't imagine why you act so surprised at the conceiving. Did you really think your human contraceptives would work on our seed?"**

Naruto gaped up at it for a moment, glaring at the shadowed outline as he tried to interpret what the demon meant.

"What are you saying? That the birth control was useless against...uh...me? W-wait a minute...did you say OUR seed?"

More booming laughter surrounded the dungeon-like setting.

"**I am not ignorant to the mechanics of this seal; and I know you are not either, ingrate though you are. The chakra you humans use is directly apart of your life force, and as your body devours my own essence with the aid of the seal, your life force will adapt and mutate to accommodate my own. Therefore, we are becoming inherently one. That is what I meant by **_**our**_** seed, as you now carry a part of my DNA. Our seed cannot fall prey to some weak, human drug. I thought that would have been obvious to you by now."**

Silence rang clear for all of five seconds as Naruto, despite all the shit he had been put through in the last twenty four hours, stared blankly back at the caged beast.

"I can't believe I am having this conversation with you," he finally muttered more to himself while rubbing a hand over his face, "This is so awkward."

The Kyuubi ignored his jailor's complaints and continued with his reasoning.

"**I have called you here to tell you that you will cease this demeaning self-pity you have started, immediately. You will not succumb to your deplorable insecurities and endanger our own kit. You are still a youngling yourself by human standards and you have not yet begun to understand your youki, let alone be able to train your own kit to understand hers. You will need my help. It's time you be a man and stop behaving like a lost child."**

Naruto bared his teeth at the giant being for even thinking it could lecture him.

"Why the fuck do you care so much? You've never given a damn what happened to me outside the seal before unless it was to save your own life!"

The Kyuubi's face was suddenly pressed against the bars and for the first time Naruto saw actual fury directed at him rather than the usual malice and contempt.

"**That is **_**our**_** kit that grows within the female," **the beast boomed through gnashing teeth,** "as she carries both our genes. It concerns me very much, whelp. I do not expect someone with a human background to understand the mechanics of honor and family. Demons may thrive on hate and fear, but we do not know concepts such as betrayal or neglect. To abandon one's own kin would make one no better than a **_**human**_**."**

Naruto swallowed, taking a step back from the sudden lashing. It took only a moment longer for him to connect Kyuubi's declaration of their combined DNA to him labeling his daughter as kin.

"Are you saying...that she—the baby—she'll be demonic?"

"**She will carry many of our traits, yes."**

"No," Naruto said simply while shaking his head. "No. No. That's not even—there's just no way that can be...because I'm human and Kensha's human—"

"**HAHAHAHAHA! You poor, delusional flesh-sack! You haven't been human since your chakra canals bonded with my demonic youki over a decade ago! You know this as well, fool. I find it incredibly pathetic that you continue to deceive yourself into believing that you are a normal human. Have you no pride in your superiority? No honor?"**

Naruto closed his eyes and tried to calm himself as best he could, not wanting to give the demon the satisfaction of riling him up. But it was extremely hard when the cold hard truth was being shoved in his face repeatedly. A part of him had always known that he wasn't human...and that he could never be human...but, much like the situation concerning his father, he refused to acknowledge it until he felt he was ready. It seemed as though the universe had it out for him these days because, ready or not, his self-protecting illusions were being torn out from under him time and time again.

"What is this youki you keep talking about?" he spat out while mentally counting down from ten before bothering to face the Kyuubi again.

The Kyuubi heaved an aggravated sigh that made it seem almost human in its annoyance at having to explain something so elementary.

"**It is demonic energy—not to be confused with demonic chakra. The nine-tailed bijuu are unique in that we are beings made of demonic chakra, and chakra, even demon chakra, can be manipulated. But all demons have youki. It is the power that makes our bodies magically stronger, heal faster, and age slower. That is something that humans can never gain control of, only imitate. It is the same power that grows stronger in you every day as you so selfishly drain it from me."**

"—Huh?" Naruto would never admit how enraptured he was by its explanation of this strange power he had never heard of before; it was distracting enough for him to almost miss the last sentence. "What do you mean I'm draining it from you?"

"**I will not spend my time catering to your stupidity, weakling!" **the Kyuubi snarled.** "You know what this seal does so do not continue to aggravate me into repeating myself over and over again. You are not human, our kit is not human, and you need to let go of your brainless, human fantasies and gain control of your youki so that my legacy does not perish!"**

The blonde swore loudly, much to the secret amusement of the tailed monster, as the point in case was reminded to him, and he began pacing the damp floor. This complicated things to a whole other level. It was one thing if Kensha was married to him, registered as a citizen of Konoha and their child was human—as he had initially assumed she would be. Konoha shouldn't have a problem accepting them as a new family, especially since he'd been gaining more and more favor with the village. But if they found out the Kyuubi could indirectly reproduce through him...

Naruto shuddered as unbidden memories from earlier aspects of his childhood resurfaced after years of being buried. He fought the urge to grip his hair in frustration at every road block that seemed to pop up from making this work. Rolling his shoulders, he took a few, deep, calming breaths. That wouldn't happen, he reassured himself, not now and not to his child. Because he would be there and so would Kensha; their daughter would never be alone and never be at the mercy of misdirected hate.

Kyuubi's words from earlier resurfaced in his mind: "...be a man..."

From now on he was going to start focusing on Kensha and their unborn child. He was going to take more missions and earn a decent amount of money, find them a bigger place, study all those parenting books, and buy everything Kensha and the baby could ever need. He was going to do it before the month was over, before the baby was born. Goals of becoming Hokage or getting Sasuke back or getting a date with Sakura were meaningless to him now...because now he wasn't living for himself anymore.

The resolution set in his face must have been visible to the Kyuubi because the beast let out a satisfied growl.

"**I see you've decided to wizen up, brat. Now go take care of our kit, for if anything should happen to my brood I will make sure you receive none of my chakra for your next overwhelming battle."**

Naruto would rather bite off his tongue than thank the demon for smacking some sense into him, so instead he gave it a curt nod and released himself from the seal's plane.

His body gave a start as his consciousness reconnected with his huddled form on the ground, exactly as he left it. The hopelessness from earlier was now nothing more than a dim throb in the back of his mind.

He steadily got to his feet, eyes hardened and fixed straight ahead of him. The Kyuubi was right; this was no time to be feeling sorry for himself. He made a promise to Kensha that he was going to be the best father he could be, that he was going to support and protect her and their child, and he would see that promise through no matter what.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"_You little shit!"_

_A young blonde boy, no older than five, cried out as the toe of a large foot struck his gut. He curled in on himself, tears staining the round, strangely marked cheeks._

"_P-p-please," he whimpered, "st-stop it..."_

_He was rewarded with another kick to the ribs, this time hard enough to crack the underdeveloped bone. He could only cry harder as pain increased tenfold—made worse by the knowledge that no one would ever come to save him, that he had no one to cry to but himself when this man left._

"_You can't trick me, you filthy little demon," the towering figure snarled, leaning in so his rancid breath washed over the traumatized boy's face, "Next time you try to steal from my fruit stand I'll bring my friends." _

_With one last kick to the stomach the man felt satisfied enough to leave the huddled mass to its own lonesome misery. Naruto was left with only the sound of his own sobs and the fading footsteps as company. A wash of light illuminated his figure as the man exited the small room in the basement that was once his safe haven._

_Through bleary eyes, Naruto could make out his assailant shaking hands with the orphanage caretaker, slipping the usually cranky old man some bills..._

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Naruto groaned as a rectangle of sunlight drifted over his eyes. Somewhere in his fuddled mind he realized that the position of his window couldn't ever shed light on his bed like that unless it was late afternoon, but he was too tired to properly care where he was. An attempt to shift away from the offending light was blocked by some sort of cushioned wall pressed against his nose. Now he knew he wasn't in his bed.

He opened his eyes to find himself staring at the brown-thatched back of his couch. With stiff movements he managed to sit himself up and tiredly rubbed at the grit in his eyes as he tried to figure out what was going on.

Why was he on the couch?

He looked down and saw the crumpled mass of his navy shorts and white t-shirt.

And why was he still in his clothes from yesterday?

He pulled his legs around to plant them on the floor and something fell off of his lap. Looking down he saw a book splayed out against its bindings and picked it up.

"Parenting for dummies?" he read the title out loud, trying to figure out if he was still dreaming. Why would he have a book about parenting? One glance around the abnormally clean apartment had everything from the previous day rushing back to him. Jiraiya, Shikamaru, the spy-network, his parents, Kensha, the baby, the Kyuubi...

He jumped to his feet, ignoring the screaming protest of his spine from a night on an uncomfortable couch, and ran to his room.

As silently, but quickly, as possible he opened the door to find his confirmation. Kensha lay in his bed, resting on her side that was facing him; her eyes were gently shut and her breathing even.

Years of training in the ninja arts allowed him to soundlessly pad across the normally creaky floor. He lowered himself to his knees so he was face to face with the lavender beauty. Despite her haggard appearance when she first arrived there was something even more beautiful about her than back in Earth country, and he knew what it was about her that made her shine so attractively to him as his hand moved on its own accord to rub lightly over the large lump in the covers.

"Morning baby," he whispered to the slow rising belly, loving the hum of life beneath his fingers. That was his daughter in there...he still couldn't quite get over the fact that he was going to have a family.

His eyes lowered to the peaceful face of his future wife. It was true that the love he felt for her wasn't quite that of a lover; he didn't get butterflies in his chest when their eyes met or see fireworks when he kissed her. But he was a Jinchuuriki, and the saying "beggars can't be choosers" was especially true for him. Besides, it wasn't as if he didn't care for her deeply. Quite the contrary, he wanted to protect her at all costs. His instincts had already recognized her as family.

"Nuhh—Naruto?" Kensha yawned in a soft voice. She had awoken to the much welcome sight of Naruto leaning over her, one hand rubbing against her swollen stomach.

"Hey," he whispered, smiling comfortingly at her, "sorry to wake you, I was just checking up on you. How are you feeling?"

She rubbed her eye with a cute smile, "I'm alright. I'm so happy last night wasn't a dream...what time is it?"

He looked at the clock next to his bed stand and replied, "It's a little after eight. I was going to make us something to eat, but I realize now that I don't have any food besides ramen, so I guess I'm going to make a run to the grocery store. Anything you want to eat in particular?"

"Um..." she bit her lip and sort of shrunk into her pillow, "I—I kind of want some...some mashed potatoes."

Naruto blinked at her but shrugged after a moment.

"Alright, anything else?"

"Some...ketchup?"

He couldn't help but snort a little at how afraid she seemed in giving her requests. She pouted, thinking he was laughing at her cravings.

"Do you think I'm weird?" she asked with insecurity, pulling the blanket up to her chin. He laughed kindly and rubbed the side of her belly again.

"No, no! Well, I do think that's a little weird, but I was reading one of those books last night so I expected something like that. Will you please stop worrying so much? That can't be good for the baby."

She smiled a little sheepishly and nodded, "You're right, sorry."

He waved it off, "Don't worry about that. You just relax, alright? I'm going to go grocery shopping and get some things done. How about you make a grocery list so I know just what to buy?"

Her eyes lit up and she nodded, struggling to sit herself up. He helped her get out of the bed just as he helped her get into it yesterday.

"Thank you," she said, smoothing down some of her bed-mussed hair.

"No problem. I put your clothes in the top two draws of my dresser," he pointed to the plain bureau sitting against the wall on the other side of the room. "Just meet me in the kitchen when you're done getting ready, you know where the bathroom is."

She nodded and he left her to her privacy, making his way back into the living room where he had left a stack of baby and parenting books from the previous night. The off-yellow of the manila envelope caught his eye but he forcibly turned away. He would deal with that another time; for once he was going to put something before Konoha.

"Alright," he said to himself, trying to put on a positive attitude to help him through this, "time to get stuff done. Kage bunshin no jutsu!"

After making the ever familiar cross with his fingers about a dozen clones of him popped into existence.

"Alright clones!" he barked in a commanding voice and each one snapped into a saluting stance, "We have a lot to do and little time to do it, so I don't want to find any slacking on your parts, got it?

"Yes sir!" replied the synchronized voices. Satisfied, Naruto pointed at the six clones on the right.

"Each of you, pick a baby book and memorize it!"

Immediately the ordered bodies each snatched a baby book out of the haphazard pile on his table and found comfy place to begin studying.

"You two," Naruto pointed to two other clones, "You are going to go to Tsunade-baachan and demand missions. Try to get C ranked if you can, but she'll probably just give you D-ranked. And I want you each to get _separate_ missions. If she asked questions tell her I need the extra cash and its training for strengthening the endurance of my clones."

"Sir!" they all saluted and darted away. He looked at the next one.

"You are going to go grocery shopping with the list Kensha gives you. Get everything on that list, and do not buy ramen—"

"But—"

"No buts!" Naruto snapped to his own face, which scowled back at him with a grudging nod. He turned to the last clone, "And you are going to stay with Kensha all day. Give her whatever she wants, talk to her about what she would want for new living arrangements, and maybe give her one of those massages Jiraiya taught us. I think she'd like that."

The final clone nodded and went to sit on the couch to wait for Kensha to come out of the bathroom.

"I am going to the cryptography unit, if she asks," he informed them, walking out the door at a brisk pace. "Though, hopefully, I'll have some time to train afterwards."

After all, if he was going to protect Kensha and their child, he was going to have to get stronger. And he would start with perfecting the rasenshuriken—to hell with what Kakashi said. He also planned to work on perfecting the shadow clone technique in a way that he and Jiraiya had last been working on before—well...just before.

The room was generally silent in the first few seconds of his absence as six clones began leafing through their assigned books and two others waited to begin their respective jobs involving Kensha. The door was kicked open as the original Naruto stuck his head back inside.

"And for God's sake take _turns_ dispelling! I don't want to have a stroke in the middle of the damn training field!"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

**:The real one isn't with them:**

"I don't understand," the small, elderly frog croaked in respects to the decoded message before him, "With only this to go on...it's still too vague."

"Well then...is there anything else you can think of?" Shikamaru scowled, not pleased that their small victory bore no fruits. They had been banking on the code to reveal something completely insightful to Pein's identity, but so far the message—discovered only through Naruto's familiarity with Jiraiya's handwriting quirks—was giving them no further leads.

Fukasaku shook his head solemnly.

"I already told you what I know about Pein...he's the kind of man who'll come back even if he dies...but that's just my speculation. It would be dangerous to go up against Pein in these state of affairs. We have to solve this mystery first."

"How are our other information sources coming along?" Kakashi asked, referring to one of Pein's bodies that Jiraiya had managed to send them before parting, "The autopsy and interrogation."

"It Looks like those two will still take some time," Sakura sighed wearily.

Naruto, who had been staring out into space, perked up in interest, "Like how long?"

"Your guess is as good as mine..." Sakura replied airily, leaning on the desk and waving him off. She was still a little miffed at him for snapping at her the other day.

For that moment Naruto had forgotten about the woman in his home, pregnant with his child; in light of discovering Jiraiya's murderer he had found himself reverting back to the anger and distress he had been filled with before, the drive to avenge his master began to kick up again.

"What the hell is that!?" he cried, not liking how everyone around him seemed so blasé about their situation, "Is this really the time to be sitting around on our asses!?"

Sakura whirled on him, intent on not letting him get away with his new waspish attitude.

"Interrogation aside...the cells and tissue have to be thoroughly analyzed in the autopsy! That will take time no matter what!"

"It'll be a week at the earliest, I imagine," Tsunade agreed with her student.

"It takes that long...!?" Naruto moaned, hanging his head in frustration.

"You don't need to get so disappointed, Uzumaki-kun," Shiho waved nervously from behind Shikamaru, adjusting her swirly glasses. She rarely got to leave the cryptology unit, so getting to stand in the Hokage's presence—with Shikamaru-kun, no less—and watching people talk so freely in front of the powerful woman was rather stimulating for her.

"So...what are we going to do, fifth?" Shikamaru prompted. He wasn't in the mood to see Naruto get all worked up.

"There's nothing to do but wait, really," Tsunade said, "It will probably go faster than usual. Shizune is overseeing the Autopsy..."

"I'm gonna go tell them to get a move on!" Naruto declared, taking a determined step towards the door; he felt he had to do something. Maybe...maybe if he could help make some progress in the interrogation then some of that unrelenting pain in his chest would let up.

"Hold it, Naruto!!" Sakura barked, "I won't forgive you if you get in Shizune-sempai's way!"

Naruto paused just before he reached the door, turning his face a little so that Sakura could get a glimpse at how serious he actually was about this.

"I'm going to get revenge for that ero-sennin..."

Sakura froze as well, looking stricken at his words.

"There's no way I'm just gonna wait around here!" he continued strongly, building on his own resolve to keep their progress moving.

"Naruto-chan..." Fukasaku cleared his throat, drawing the attention of everyone in the room, "the fact that I figured out the code has nothing to do with you."

That was it for Naruto. The message was clearly meant for him to figure out; no one else would have gotten it if he didn't recognize the katakana. He was the "key", wasn't he?

He whirled around.

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?"

Fukasaku wasn't fazed in the least by his outburst, "Deciphered or not, there's no way you can win against Pein the way you are now...So come with me."

Naruto's eyes widened; all the righteous, yet unidentifiable, fury within him transformed into a familiar sort of anticipation.

A wide smirk stretched the old toad's gummy mouth once he noticed he had the boy's undivided attention, "If you don't mind learning the same way I beat it into Jiraiya-chan...I'll train you in the sage arts on the strange Tree Mountain..."

Naruto's heart was fluttering at the prospect.

"And I'll really be able to beat Pein that way?" he asked with sincere hope.

"I don't know." Fukasaku replied honestly, "All I know is that if you stay as you are now, you're no good. Do you mind, Tsunade?"

The question, directed at the Hokage, was greeted by a pleased grin.

"Of course not...," she replied in earnest, before turning to her favorite, though most annoying, ninja, "Naruto, you'd better work hard."

"Training in these arts are harsher than you could ever imagine!" Fukasaku added, "Think you're up to it?"

Naruto's heart lifted at the challenge. He was going to receive new training; training designated to great people like Jiraiya. He was going to be a sage and honor his mentor's death by defeating the man that killed him.

"That Ero-sennin could do it, couldn't he? Then there's no way I can fail either! I'll—!" he cut off, the inspiring and hopeful anticipation dissipating within seconds, leaving him feeling chilled and burdened.

He suddenly remembered that he was no longer Naruto the gennin, Naruto the apprentice of Jiraiya, Naruto the orphan with no obligations to hold him back from getting stronger. He was now Naruto the soon to be father, Naruto who had promised a desperate pregnant woman that he would take care of her no matter what, Naruto who needed to stay in the village.

'_I'm sorry Ero-sennin,'_ he whispered in his head, clenching the fists by his side, _'your vengeance will have to wait a little longer.'_

"I—I can't." It was probably the most painful thing he had to say since he made that heart breaking promise to Sakura-chan three years ago.

Silence reigned in the spacious office as everybody present stared at him, some in disbelief, others in actual horror.

He shook his head to block out any external reactions, reigning in as much determination and resolution as he could in order to make his point clear. Ignoring the loose jaws and furrowed brows around him, he picked up his head and squared off to the toad sage.

"I'm sorry old toad, but I can't accept your offer right now."

"W-what?" Sakura gasped, already believing that she had heard wrong. After all, they had just been getting so worked up about this new training. Even Naruto seemed like he was ready for it; why would he suddenly change his mind like that?

"You're joking, right?" Shikamaru added with a hesitant quirk to his lips, "I mean...this is the sort of opportunity you would die for. You can't seriously be turning it down."

"Would you care to explain why you can't?" Tsunade asked as calmly as she could. The boy must have an _extremely_ good reason for turning down special training. Everyone else seemed to be thinking along the same lines as they waited impatiently for his answer.

Naruto felt the panic rising in him as their demanding stares pierced him. Now would have the opportune moment to confess. He could explain that he had gotten a girl pregnant and that he needed to stay with her because she needed him more than anyone else did. There were other ninjas that could continue fighting the Akatsuki, but only one could be the father to his daughter.

He opened his mouth in anticipation of admitting the truth; his heart was pounding so fast that the blood rushing past his ears was enough to deafen the room further...and yet it couldn't keep him from picking apart the looks they were pinning him with. He was a veteran of analyzing someone's stare, especially when realizing negative aspects.

There was disappointment in their gazes...he had let them down; but that he had expected the moment he voiced his decision.

There was also anger and confusion and hurt. He could already tell that he had lost a bit of their trust, a bit of their respect, for refusing this opportunity to better protect their village; he couldn't be who they needed him to be right now, and for that he was truly sorry. But his decision was made the night before after his talk with Kyuubi and there was no going back. It was foolish of him to get so carried away with the talk of training; he shouldn't have had to remind himself of his parental duties. He wouldn't make that mistake again—he knew where his priorities now laid.

His mouth closed with an audible click. He wouldn't—no...he_ couldn't_ tell them now. What if they tried to take Kensha away from him? If they didn't trust him enough to respect his decision, maybe they wouldn't trust him enough to be a good father...

"It's like I said before: I just...I just can't," he finished lamely, wishing he could bring more confidence into his speech. The glares seemed to have intensified. He hated it, but his resolution was already beginning to fold under the pressure of the current company, "Not now. I can't do it right now..."

"But...you're...you're the child of prophesy!" Fukasaku protested. Naruto looked at the old toad pleadingly, begging him not to push the subject.

"I've...I've gotta go. I'm really sorry, but I just can't do this training right now," he turned quickly, hoping to get out of there and away from the stares that had his head reeling. He couldn't think straight.

"Naruto, wait right there!"

Tsunade's sharp voice had Naruto stopping just short of the door, a pained expression on his face.

"Explain yourself," she demanded. Naruto heaved a sigh and looked over his shoulder.

"I'm just not ready for it," he mumbled, ignoring his screaming pride from the personal blow. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry..."

He continued out the door, ignoring the eyes boring into his back.

"I can't believe that just happened," Kakashi muttered; his one visible eyebrow rose toward his hairline.

"So damn troublesome," Shikamaru groused, wishing he was outside at that moment so he could light up. It was turning out to be one of those days.

Sakura too was at a loss. She kept replaying the whole scene over and over again in her head—Naruto's anger, his determination and then...and then what? What was that? What happened to getting his revenge for the pervert? Was that an empty speech before?

"I guess it can't be helped," Tsunade sighed, her brows still furrowed from Naruto's puzzling reaction. It couldn't have still been the death of Jiraiya that caused his sudden cold feet. Was it his parents? Was there something bothering him about his ancestry that kept him from moving forward?

Sakura's head snapped up from her contemplations, "But, but, Shishou...what about Pein? He has to—!"

"He doesn't have to do anything, Sakura," Tsunade reminded the girl gently, "Something isn't right with him, but I feel its best not to push it too much. He reacted like a cornered animal just then."

"I would talk to him, Hokage-sama, but I'm already scheduled to leave on a mission soon," Kakashi spoke up, apologizing in his own way. Naruto's behavior at the end of this meeting had been unsettling for him at best, but it was something he would have to work out when he got back from snow country.

"Fukasaku-sama, I apologize," Tsunade expressed to the elder, "I could not have foreseen this..."

"It's quite alright, child," the old frog assuaged in his hoarse voice, "the boy did imply that he would be ready at a later date. I only fear that respecting his wishes will be cause for Pein to get the upper hand. Let's hope that young Naruto-chan will come through for us sooner rather than later."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"ARRGH! That damn idiot! He's been avoiding me, I just know it!" Sakura snarled. Her fist struck the ground where her opponent just was, causing the sparsely grassed ground to erupt into a mass of rocks and dirt.

"What the hell, forehead!" Ino cried, jumping back a safe distance from her clearly unstable friend after almost losing a leg, "It's just a spar!"

Sakura fell out of her taijutsu stance and blinked, finally looking around to realize, with a sheepish grin, that the training field now looked more like she was fighting against an Akatsuki member rather than one of her girlfriends.

"I'm sorry Ino," she apologized honestly, somewhat ashamed of herself for losing control like that. She rolled her sore shoulders and sat down on the ground, looking over her bruised shins with a frown. Ino joined her at her side, concern evident on the aristocratic features.

"Sakura, what the hell is wrong with you? You've been distracted all day—and unusually hostile lately."

The rosette cringed, knowing she was never one who could hide her emotions very well. She took a moment before she answered, contemplating how to best word her situation.

"It has to do with Naruto, doesn't it?" Ino asked before Sakura could answer. Her friend sighed wearily and nodded.

"Yeah...I mean, we had this fight...er...not really a fight but...he snapped at me and I snapped back and he walked off...and...and then he refuses this great opportunity for special training. Training only Jiraiya-sama has had! I just don't understand it! He sounded all excited for a minute and then—BAM!—nothing! And ever since then it's like he's disappeared off the face of the Earth! Even Shizune-sempai said that he never checked in at the autopsy ward—not that I would have encouraged that—but I still would have expected him to show up at _some _point in the past two weeks! I know we've been a little annoyed at each other but I didn't think he'd just start ignoring me! What the hell is up with that?"

"Well...maybe you two just haven't bumped into each other by coincidence?" Ino tried, kneading a sore calf muscle with both her hands.

Sakura shook her head in the negative, "Kakashi-sensei said that he'd seen Naruto training plenty of times when I asked him about it. And Reiko-san said that she'd seen Naruto in the hospital the other day! Teuchi-san said that Naruto hadn't been at the ramen stand all week! What does _that_ tell you?"

Ino pursed her lips. It did sound rather suspicious that Naruto wouldn't go to his favorite hangout and then be in the hospital without even bumping into Sakura. After all, Sakura covered all the wards that took care of injuries.

"What did I do to deserve this?" Sakura continued, her anger getting the better of her now that she was assessing everything out loud, "One teammate abandons his village for revenge and power, and the other is just...just a...an immature loser! I mean, what is this? The academy? Why can't he just be a man and talk to me. It wasn't even a fight! How hard can it be to just tell me what's wrong rather than throwing random fits and acting weird all the time? It's just so...so...arrgh!"

"Ya know," Ino said, sympathetically, "there are just some guys who will never grow up. I didn't think Naruto would be one of them, especially after seeing how powerful he's gotten, but I guess I was wrong."

"You got the good team, Ino," Sakura nodded wearily in agreement. The majority of her anger had drained out of her by the end of her rant, leaving her feeling strangely disappointed.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Ino asked. She loved her boys, both of them, but one was a glutton and the other so lazy it was a miracle he could button his pants in the morning.

"Chouji is one of the kindest people I know," Sakura explained, "and anyone can see that Shikamaru is going places. Too bad Temari got her claws in him before you could, Ino-pig."

"Eh?! Psh, puh-leaze! As if I'd be interested in his lazy-ass—genius or not!" Ino retorted. "Besides, if you're so upset about it, then why don't you go to his place and confront him?"

"Ha!" Sakura barked, "I'm not giving him the satisfaction of knowing that he's gotten to me. If he wants to be jerk about this, then fine! I don't need him. I can hang out with Sai and...and you. That's all I need."

"Whatever you say, forehead," Ino muttered, knowing that Sakura wanted nothing more than to confront the other blonde and work out whatever problem they were having, "Whatever you say."

Still, there was something about the whole situation that just didn't add up.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Naruto could honestly say that the last couple of weeks had been some of the most tiring, but rewarding, of his life.

Keeping Kensha's pregnancy—and arrival—a secret from his friends and the Hokage wasn't easy. Though it wasn't for being ashamed of Kensha or their baby—quite the contrary; he wanted to shout to the world that he was going to be a father. But, in addition to lacking the courage to come out to them about his irresponsible and untimely oversight, he also wanted to be fully prepared to show he _could_ handle this situation without outside help. Especially after that fiasco in Tsunade's office.

It was more than just a fear of telling Tsunade for what she would do to him—he was afraid that somehow he would lose everything that had become most precious to him in the last half-month. He was terrified that he would be deemed unfit to be the father because of being a Jinchuuriki, or because of having so many S-ranked criminals after him, or simply because he was so young. He didn't want the baby taken away from him or Kensha and knowing Tsunade, out of her desire to protect him (or "belatedly baby" him as he liked to call it) it was just the sort of thing she would try to pull. He wanted to get on his feet, have a steady income, and be fully prepared to provide for Kensha and their daughter before he really released the information of his impending fatherhood. So for now, the plan was to keep it a secret as well as he could before the baby was born.

That left him with the major task of finding a suitable income to start purchasing a larger apartment as well as baby supplies. Every day he would have at least twenty clones training with him while he conserved all his other energy for the three clones who worked actual jobs. Tsunade was far too suspicious about having multiple clones performing D-ranked missions, especially since it looked as if he turned down sage training to perform gennin duties, so instead he turned to civilian means.

The good thing about civilians was that they couldn't tell the difference between a shadow clone and an actual person—not that many ninja could either. He had one clone working at a bar down the street, another working at a construction site a few blocks over that was raising a new apartment and a third clone working as a waiter in a restaurant not too far from his place (he was just counting down the days to when Chouji walked in there)—all things he had had experience with during his travels with Jiraiya. The money he was raking in was more than triple of that which an average gennin would make.

He made sure to keep all these jobs on his side of town to avoid any more suspicion from his friends. Sure, being seen buying far more groceries than usual and far more often was suspicious, as was his notable absence from the ramen stand, but those were trivial matters he couldn't bring himself to care about just yet. He lived on the more 'slummy' side of Konoha, so he was fairly confident that he wouldn't run into many acquaintances.

As for living with Kensha...well, it took a lot of adjusting from going from loner to having a roommate, especially one in such a condition as her. But their sudden living arrangements forced the two to open up to each other further, trying to leave no stone unturned and no skeletons in their closets, wanting to create an honest environment for their daughter to be born into.

He could still remember the time when he told Kensha about his greatest secret.

_**:FLASHBACK:**_

"W-what?"

Naruto cringed at the raw shock in which she stuttered out that word. He tightened his hold on her hands, afraid that she would draw away from him. The pair was sitting on the edge of his bed about three days into her arrival, and his decision to tell her about the Kyuubi suddenly seemed like such a bad idea.

"Yeah," he murmured, lowering his eyes to their clasped hands, "I—the fourth Hokage, he didn't have much of a choice, you see...and the demon, well, he's a bitch most of the time but he does lend me his chakra to get me out of serious situations..." she was still silent, staring at him as though she didn't know who he was, "Please, Kensha, this doesn't change who I am. I'm still her father—I can be the best father, I can! Please, just give me a chance. I swear the demon won't have any influence on me, I—"

She leaned in and pressed her lips to his in a soft, understanding kiss.

"It's okay," she whispered, drawing back a little. Naruto gazed fuzzily into her hazel eyes.

"Huh?" he sounded intelligently, causing her to giggle and grant him one more peck on the lips before sitting back.

"It's okay," she repeated, "I don't care about the demon. If you say he's safely sealed within you, then I have no reason to believe he could endanger our child. I trust you, Naruto."

Naruto, for his part, thought this was just too good to be true.

"You...do you realize how this could affect you? How the village may treat you when it comes out that you were involved with a demon?"

"Naruto," she snapped sternly—something he had seen her suddenly do in the oddest of mood swings, "don't you _ever_ call yourself a demon, you hear me?"

He bit his lip, "I—I'm sorry Kensha, I didn't mean it like that. But for the longest time the village had trouble seeing past the demon and I...I don't want that to happen with _her_..."

His hands reached for her belly once more, where he liked them best. His daughter, in response to his close proximity, kicked at him in her own little greeting. His smile didn't quite reach his eyes as he continued.

"You don't understand the consequences this could have. She may not be entirely human," _more like _will not_ be_, "and the villagers...well, if they realize—I mean, if it's _that_ noticeable, it could be difficult for her to lead a normal life."

Kensha looked at him with a mix of sympathy and amusement.

"Naruto," she placed a hand tenderly on his cheek, "I think it's safe to say that we both don't know what it's like to have a normal life. We both know the hurtful things people are capable of. But that's why we don't have to worry."

He raised an eyebrow at her and she continued, petting his whiskers and sending comforting vibes down his spine, "We know exactly what we don't want our child to experience; we can save her from loneliness and pain because we've experienced it before. We both have so much love to give that I know she will never feel unwanted."

Naruto laughed and nuzzled into her hand. Somehow she could make it seem all ok. She would make a wonderful wife and mother.

"I'm glad you came—it couldn't have been at a better time," he suddenly said and she frowned.

"Are you being sarcastic? I just threw off your whole life plans. What about being Hokage or finding your friend or that training? I made everything so much more difficult for you."

He laughed, "No. I'm very much serious. I was at a point in my life where I didn't know what I was doing…if going after Sasuke was still worth it, if I could go on without my sensei, if I could carry on at all really...but you put a new and much needed perspective in my life and, for that, I am forever grateful."

_**:END FLASHBACK:**_

Despite all the hardships and stress he was put through over the last couple of weeks trying to "be a man" as Kyuubi had put it, he had indeed found that every bit was worth it. Every day he would come home from long hours of working multiple jobs and training his ass off to find someone there waiting for him—something he wanted ever since he first moved into his apartment almost a decade ago. And it wasn't just anyone who was on the other side of the door (and usually with a hot meal prepared); it was someone who loved him with all of her heart. Someone who would rub his shoulders and kiss his neck, someone who he could hold in his arms and tell her all the things they were going to do with the money he was raking in, someone who was carrying his child and couldn't be happier about it.

Every day he fell a little more in love with her, just like he said he would, and every day he was a little more convinced that this could all work out.

Grinning, Naruto landed on his doorstep in a perfect jump from the neighboring roof and entered his apartment. The second he pushed the door open the clone he left with Kensha to keep her company was dispelled, letting him know that a crib was purchased earlier today (by a clone in disguise and Kensha) as well as a changing table.

"Hello, ladies!" he called out, dropping his keys on the coffee table as was his habit.

Kensha looked up from the kitchen table she was seated at, a red marker in her hand and a couple newspapers spread out before her. Her face lit up at the sound of his voice.

"Hey you! Guess what? I think I found a good apartment that we can afford! It's two bedrooms, one bathroom and a kitchen and it's just in view of the park!"

Naruto grinned, bounding into the kitchen and leaning over her shoulders to look at the circled ad.

"Well, look at that! Good eye, Kensha!" he praised her, making sure to kiss the pleased blush on her cheek. "First thing tomorrow I'll go check it out."

"You were late so I hope you don't mind that I ate without you. The leftovers are in the fridge," Kensha said, "I was just so hungry and this one couldn't wait any longer. She gets rather violent if I don't keep her fed."

"Not at all," Naruto replied, bending down to tickle her belly, "I'm glad my little girl has a healthy appetite."

"Yeah, and a healthy kick too," Kensha muttered wryly. "I don't understand why she's so active every time you're around."

"She's a smart baby," he reasoned as he began to reheat his meal, "she probably recognizes my chakra already. By the way, have you started to think about names?"

Kensha looked a bit startled by the question, which soon softened into a blush.

"Actually, yes, I have."

Naruto set his plate down across from her and gave her an inquiring look.

"Oh yeah...?"

She fiddled with the marker; keeping her eyes on the cap she was turning around in her hand as she answered.

"When I was...traveling," though his face remained impassive she still caught the darkened flash in his eyes. She hated bringing up the earlier months of her pregnancy; she hated the intensity of the guilt he felt because of it, "and I didn't know if I would ever find you, I decided that I liked the name Hitomi..."

"Hitomi, huh?" Naruto rolled the name around in his head.

"Yes, Hitomi. Because I was hoping that she would inherit her father's eyes and I would always have something to remind myself of you..."

Naruto's eyes widened at the revelation and he began to blush as much as she was.

"R-really?"

Kensha giggled at his sudden bashfulness, "Yes, silly. And even with you here with me now, I still like the name a lot."

Recovering from his small bout of embarrassment, he reached across the table and took her hand in his larger one, "Well I like it too. And you know what? I think after I check out that apartment tomorrow, that I'll start telling people about us."

Kensha's eyes lit up in excitement. Since she had arrived she had respected his wishes to keep his involvement with her and the pregnancy under wraps, sympathizing with his fears and his desire to protect her. When she had gone out of his apartment it was usually with one of his clones in a henge. Even in the few visits to the hospital to get a checkup he had been in a henge most of the time. But through it all she had the one desire to walk around on the arm of _Naruto_, not some nameless face, and to show the village that was now her home how much she loved him. That and she hated having someone as social as her fiancé separated from his friends for her sake.

"That's great!" she exclaimed earnestly, "I can't wait to meet your friends!"

Naruto chuckled, "I should probably take you to baa-chan first. That will be the most painful for me, so I might as well get it out of the way. Then we can go see Sakura-chan and Sai and Kakashi-sensei."

"I thought you had a spat with that Sakura girl?" Kensha said lightly, grabbing the hand that was previously holding hers and rubbing circles into the palm with her thumb. Naruto watched her touch him, smiling affectionately at her.

"It was just a petty argument, hardly even that," he replied, "It doesn't mean anything in the long run. She's still one of my best friends. I think you two would get along great, she—"

An explosion sounded off from the distance, powerful enough to rattle the glass of the windows and ripple the water in their glasses. Seconds after, the sound of the masses screaming was heard from the streets by the gate of the village. Naruto jumped to his feet, his heart springing into his throat.

"What was that!?" Kensha cried fearfully, struggling to stand herself up.

"I don't know," he said and his voice sounded colder than she had ever heard it before. He briskly walked to the other side of the table and helped her up. Holding her face in his hands he kissed her and said softly, "Stay here, I'm leaving a clone with you. It's on the other side of town, so whatever it is I won't allow it to progress any further into the village."

A clone popped into existence at a mere thought and he had his shoes on in less than two seconds.

"Naruto," Kensha cried just before he left the apartment, he turned back to her with impatience before seeing the hands that gripped around her belly in tension and the tears in her eyes, "Come back to me."

He offered her a small smile, one that looked much calmer than he felt.

"I promise."

And he left.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Before we go any further, let's get some things straight about the Kyuubi for this fic: Kyuubi is NOT a friend of Naruto's. He is an evil demon. He will NOT "adopt" Naruto as his "kit". And he is a HE. Grand.

Also, most of that middle scene in Tsunade's office I took straight out of the manga chapter 408...before I butchered it X3

Hitomi is a name given to girls with especially beautiful eyes, which is why I thought it would be cute.

**Strider714** has put up with me once again. And for that you all can understand what is going on in this fic...or at least I hope you can. Thank him.

And finally, THANK YOU for all the review-ies! I know some people freaked out about Naruto getting someone else preggers and all I can say to that is...oh well? C'est la vie?

R&R and I give you opples and banonos!!


	4. Loss and Gain

**Chapter 4**

Pandemonium.

It was the first word that came to his mind once Naruto arrived on the scene of the explosion. The center of town was an absolute mess, with buildings crumbling left and right and the deafening sounds of paper bomb and jutsu adding to the confusion. Civilians were screaming and running through the decimated streets like chickens with their head cut off. By the time Naruto arrived to the scene there were already several bodies littering the streets—both of ninja and civilian. Among them were the clashing figures of Konoha ninjas and...

"Rain-nin?" he gasped, catching sight of a headband. What the hell were rain ninja doing in Konoha? Weren't they allies?

Naruto shook his head, irately telling himself that this was no time to be questioning why this was happening. Without further hesitation he sent thirty of his clones into existence.

"Spread out!" he barked at them, "don't let them get any further into the village!"

From a bird's eye point of view the mayhem in the streets below had suddenly been infiltrated by several dozen specs of orange, each one engaging several ninjas at a time and helping civilians escape unharmed. The original Naruto was every bit as active—though for every one ninja he killed, three more would take its place, adding to his frustration. Despite keeping himself sufficiently occupied he couldn't help but subconsciously note how bizarre the entire situation was.

Naruto ducked under a flying kick, swinging a kunai around his finger before gripping it with a tight fist and jamming it into the throat of a rain-nin behind him. The body crumpled to the ground yet Naruto hardly paid it any attention—he was already engaged in the next hand-to-hand battle. He had seen a swarm of Abureme bugs consume a group of Rain-nin earlier as well as the large, thundering ball of an Akimichi bowl down several different squadrons. Kakashi was spotted at one point, just returning from his mission, as were Ten-ten and Shizune separately. It was a small comfort to know his friends were out and about in the same area.

"Naruto, I need some help over here!"

He glanced to his left to see Shikamaru holding three ninjas in his shadow binding jutsu with two more flying down at him from above—the position of the sun gave the aerial opponents them no shadows for the Chuunin to work with.

"Right!" Naruto called, springing forward with enough power to meet them mid-air. The first one stabbed at him with a katana. The blade sliced through his body with ease and the ninja bore a cruel smirk on his face at Naruto's shocked expression. The victory was short lived as a scream turned the man's attention to his descending partner in time to get a spray of blood in the face.

"What the—" the man never finished his sentence as his spine was torn in half by a blue, spinning ball of energy to the back. It was then, at the very same time, that the boy on the end of his katana poofed out of existence.

Naruto landed in a crouch along with the two bodies of the formerly attacking ninja. Seeing their comrades incapacitated so quickly only infuriated the three enemies who were being held immobile by Shikamaru. Before they could begin to increase their struggle, two shadowy hands rose from the ground, each gripping the neck of a Rain-nin, while Naruto pounced with the intention of gutting the third ninja in Shikamaru's grasp. Shikamaru released Naruto's next victim before the kunai sliced into the unprotected belly, all the while gaining more strength to effectively snap the other two necks. Three more Ame ninjas were down for the count.

"Thanks," Shikamaru breathed, standing from his kneeling position as Naruto took a stance, back to back with him, "Don't suppose you know why we're being attacked by Amegakure?"

"No," Naruto answered, "but don't you find it weird?"

Shikamaru snorted, briefly taking on another rain-nin and kicking him away, "Of course it's weird. They attack out of the blue and with seemingly no purpose. It's obvious that their skills are inferior to ours; even with their numbers they have no hope of overpowering us. They're fighting us just for the sake of fighting us."

"No, not that," Naruto grunted in annoyance, fending off yet another attack, "They're all attacking from the entrance of the village. They're not coming from any other part of the village or trying to spread around."

Shikamaru looked shocked for a moment, not only at the new piece of information, but also at the fact that he had completely missed such an obvious detail while Naruto had spotted it right away.

"You're right..." he muttered to himself, and as he pieced everything together he was nearly distracted enough to miss the kunai flying at his head. Nearly. "It's almost as if this were some kind of distra—"

"_FUCK!"_

Without waiting to hear the rest of what Shikamaru had to say Naruto bolted off, leaving the battle at a speed fast enough for him to be considered the second coming of the Fourth.

"Hey! Hey Naruto!" Shikamaru called out to his retreating comrade. He felt a brief numbness as he watched the fading orange back of his friend who was apparently heading into the safety of the village, hardly noticing that more enemy ninja were closing in on him.

"_TSUUGA!"_

A projectile cyclone took out the encircling ninja, sending at least a dozen bodies flying off with screams.

"What the hell, Shikamaru!" the cyclone-turned-Kiba shouted. Akamaru came bounding over seconds later, the leg of a rain-nin still dangling from his teeth, "It's not like you to space out like that in the middle of a battle!"

The large, white canine barked in agreement. Shikamaru swallowed and shook his head, getting back into the battle frame of mind.

"You're right, I'm sorry. It's just...Naruto, he—he just ran off..."

"What?" Kiba gasped, absentmindedly fighting off two other nins, "No way, that's not like him."

"I know, but he just took off back into the village while we were in the middle of fighting..."

"That—I don't believe it! Not Naruto!"

"Retreat! Retreat!" One of the rain ninjas began shouting to the few comrades he had left. The tides had turned, and now it was the Konoha ninjas that were on the offensive, refusing to let their attackers escape without punishment. Ibiki was going to have a field day tonight.

With the lessened opposition keeping his attention, Shikamaru finally had the time to appreciate the damage around him. Hundreds of bodies—the large majority of which were rain-nin—decorated the once peaceful streets of Konoha. No more civilians were in view, just the crumbling buildings and decimated front gate.

Still, the disconcerting leave of the blonde continued to plague his mind.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

The terrifying images that struck him like a sledge hammer when the clone at his apartment was forcibly dispelled were enough to stop Naruto's heart in mid-beat. He couldn't even feel the slightest bit of remorse for abandoning Shikamaru in the middle of a fight; his whole body, mind and soul were focused on one thing: getting to his apartment.

Buildings flashed by, hardly registering in his mind as his feet took him to his own residence in no time. His door was missing, the frame jagged and contorted.

Terror turned into hysteria.

Scarcely breathing anymore, Naruto threw himself inside, kicking aide the scraps of his door and ignoring his haywire instincts. The furniture of his sitting room was upturned and broken, holes were punched through walls and the entire apartment reeked of fresh blood. And there, standing naught twenty feet away from him, was Hoshigaki Kisame, Samehada resting effortlessly over his shoulder.

But Naruto wasn't looking at Kisame, nor was he looking at the destruction of his apartment. He was looking at the ground right before him—at the prone and unmoving form of Kensha which was releasing large amounts of dark blood.

"Well, well, if it isn't the Jinchuuriki brat," the razor-toothed swordsman grinned, "cute broad you got here. There's nothing sweeter than a woman covered in her own blood."

"Y-You..." Naruto could hardly get the words out of his mouth as his world came crashing down around him. It was a nightmare—it wasn't really happening. He wasn't looking at the broken, bloodied body of his fiancé crumpled at the feet of a monster. He wasn't. He was sleeping...he was...

"I was wondering when you would show up," Kisame continued to smile that evil, twisted smile as little, yellow eyes soaked up the internal agony displayed on Naruto's face with relish, "After all, It wouldn't do for me to return without you. Pein-sama didn't send all those hapless ninja to be slaughtered just so you could slip through his fingers again."

"W-w-what?" inside Naruto was screaming at himself to do something other than stare and stutter, but the situation just wasn't processing in his brain. It was as though his mind simply refused to believe what he was looking at. After all, he was supposed to be getting his family; he was supposed to be a father. He was supposed to be looking at apartments with his fiancé tomorrow. This...this just wasn't possible.

A soft, but audible, moan drew both men's attention to the huddled girl. Her eyes clenched shut and a sob escaped her lips as she curled her body in towards her stomach in an unconscious act to protect her baby.

"Ho, ho! It looks like there's a little life left in the bitch after all," Kisame sneered and he raised Samehada with the clear intention to finish the job.

Naruto snapped.

Kyuubi's chakra blasted out of his body, swirling around him in a furious whirlwind of red chaos. But for once, he and the Kyuubi were in accord. Distantly he could hear the beast roaring for vengeance for the life of its kit in the back of his mind.

Samehada had hardly descended an inch before a gnarled, clawed hand had griped the sword by its wrapped blade. Kisame could only shake his head in mirth as the legendary sword began to take advantage of being held barehanded, spiking out and piercing through the bones and flesh of the hand. And yet...his opponent didn't seem to retract his grip as the swordsman had expected.

"So—you like chakra?" Naruto hissed, baring his long canines at the taken aback shark. His grip on Samehada tightened, claws sinking into the thick wrappings and scratching the blade. He began to pump scores of demonic chakra into Samehada which, at first, greedily sucked it up.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kisame grunted, trying to shake the kid off. But an inhuman strength had possessed the boy and Kisame watched in fascinated horror as Samehada was quickly—impossibly—brought to its limit. Naruto had kept his deceptively calm gaze on his adversary, the red irises striking the core of the former mist-nin.

"I bet you never encountered anyone with more chakra than your fancy sword could handle," Naruto rumbled slowly, feeling a twisted pleasure in drawing this out, "But this isn't ordinary chakra, as you know. This is demonic chakra, poisonous to all but those who harbor it."

Even as he said it the sword began to groan, communicating its pain to its wielder.

"You little shit!" Kisame roared, drawing his other fist back to physically detach Naruto from his sword, but the fist was caught in Naruto's other hand, just as effortlessly as the sword had been stopped.

"You have hurt my mate and my kit," Naruto snarl and his voice seemed to deepen to the point where it almost sounded dual—as though there were two voices coming from one throat. More chakra began to pour out of his body, this time expertly directed into both the sword and Kisame. The sharkish Missing-nin had never felt pain like this; it was as though he were being boiled from the inside out, yet having his skin curl away from his body at the same time. The strength at which the boy held both him and his sword at bay was unreal—so unreal that he knew it wasn't just the boy he was dealing with.

Malice poured out along with the chakra, choking and poisoning. Samehada gave one, last and final groan as a red glow emitted from beneath the wrappings, before the piercing wail of a crack gave way. Kisame howled; the sudden, broken connection between he and his sword tore at his mind, nearly bringing him to his knees. Naruto ripped the remains of the blade from Kisame's weakened grasp and threw it absently behind him.

"You're going to feel everything that she felt and then some, _bastard!_"

Naruto jerked the arm in his hand forward, bringing the temporarily unstable fish-man into his other fist only to be struck back across the room and imprinted into the opposite wall. Kisame had relied on his Samehada and his substantial amounts of chakra—they were what made him unique and dangerous enough to be recognized by the Akatsuki. To have his blade broken—to have the connection torn from his mind so suddenly and so violently—had left him in an incapacitated state...long enough for even a half-wit Jinchuuriki to take advantage of.

Naruto was before him once more, this time taking the blue-man's head in his hands, stabbing his claws right through the skull, and directing even more of the raw chakra into the shuddering body.

Kisame screamed as the poisoned chakra surged into his head through any opening. It was too much; the Kyuubi's potent chakra was melting his brain, stirring up his own chakra to work against him, suffocating, blistering, pounding until blood—so dark that it was nearly black—began to drip out of his nose, ears, mouth and eyes. His body began to toss around and a frothy substance dribbled out between his teeth, mixing with the thick blood.

The screams of the thrashing man sounded so disturbingly sweet to Naruto's ears. Any other time he would have been horrified at what he was doing, but with his and the Kyuubi's intent harmonious for the first time ever—and, as a result, his control over his tremulous demonic chakra oddly superb—the primal urge for a messy revenge trumped any humane queasiness.

The struggles began to slow and the ear-splitting screams died down into gurgles and spumes. It wasn't much longer before Hoshigaki Kisame, formerly of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, stilled in death.

Naruto stood panting for a moment with his blood-covered hands still crushed into the man's skull. Slowly, as if waking from a daze, he detached himself from the cooling corpse, blinking rapidly as red irises faded into blue. Shaking his head, he swallowed back the bile that rose from the combined stench and sight.

"Nnnn—" a harsh coughing crashed through the stillness, "Na-Naruto..."

"_Kensha!"_ he gasped, tears springing to his eyes at the sound of her voice. He whirled around, throwing himself to her side and gently rolling her onto her back. He could hardly pinpoint her wounds for all the blood.

"I'm so sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry—I—I—don't..." his brain was shutting down; he didn't know what to do. His intended wife lie dying in his arm, tortured and bleeding, her heartbeat slowing and her breathing labored. Kensha struggled to keep her eyes open.

"P-please make it st-stop...," she whimpered and his heart broke, "th-the b-baby—she—she—"

Blood bubbled up into her mouth, choking out the rest of her sentence.

"Shhh," Naruto hushed her, the tears breaking free and dropping from his eyes, "Don't speak. The baby's still alive—I can feel her chakra. She will be fine; I'll get you to Tsunade—"

His senses were coming back to him as his shock settled. As quickly and gently as he could, he maneuvered her into his arms; trying to keep her as comfortable as possible. But as he stood Kensha jolted.

"Sh-she's coming—augh!" Kensha screamed and gripped her stomach tighter, trying to curl into herself at the sudden contraction that hit. Naruto's eyes widened and he swore, wasting no more time in leaping out of the hollow doorway and traveling across rooftops as fast as his load would allow.

"Oh God, Naruto, it hurts! It hurts so bad!" she sobbed, her body convulsing between pain and her cries.

"I know, I know baby," he soothed her, trying to harness his own mounting panic to further speed him, "just hold on a little longer. I won't lose either of you."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

The Konoha General Hospital could best be described as chaotic.

Sure, the Rain-nin had inferior skills to Konoha ninja and the majority of their numbers were now dead; but the suddenness and unexpectedness of the attack had managed to catch several shinobi off guard. The majority of those now being rushed around the hospital were civilians and less experienced ninja. Tsunade wiped her brow as she saved another gennin from near-fatal wounds before passing the ninja onto less-skilled civilian medics for the rest of his treatment. The casualties were low but their staff was still being stretched.

Perhaps if Jiraiya was still around they would have had sufficient warning of the attack; his network of spies was surprisingly one of the most reliable in the ninja world. The attack was troubling, that was for certain. She knew from Jiraiya's last memoirs that the leader of the Akatsuki had taken over Amegakure, so the attack must have been related to that organization. Though she had to wonder...if Naruto had been in contact with the network, like she asked him, whether this all could have been avoided.

She began to heal a deep stomach wound of a civilian as she pondered this.

If he had, he probably would have had some inkling of the attack from Amegakure and warned them. That and there was almost no way for Naruto to get in contact with anyone outside the walls of Konoha as he was practically being held hostage in his own village.

"Baa-chan!"

Speak of the devil.

She looked up expecting to see her blonde ball of sunshine bloodied and bruise and overall a little worse for wear. What she didn't expect to see was a terribly wounded pregnant woman, barely alive and clearly in labor, trashing around his arms.

"Baa-chan, please! Help her!" he cried out. She was struck dumb for a moment at the fear and misery that laced his voice, suggesting that there was some kind of connection between the two. But now wasn't the time to ask questions.

She abandoned the patient she was working on, allowing her aids to take over the mostly finished job, and strode over to the shaking boy, taking the woman from his arms as though she weighed little more than a sack of rice.

"Fourth floor," she said simply and practically disappeared from the spot. Ignoring the strange looks he was receiving for his sudden outburst, he followed her, taking the few flights of stairs and two hallways in a matter of seconds before he reached the door Tsunade had entered. He could see Kensha lain out on the table, a rush of nurses already crowding around her, cutting away her clothes and retrieving instruments.

"Naruto, I'm going to have to ask you to wait outside," Tsunade said as gently as she could while pumping healing chakra into a chest wound.

"But—!"

"Now, please."

It wasn't a request. Swallowing back the hard lump in his throat, he obediently shut the door in front of him and shakily took a seat on the floor against the wall.

How? How could this have happened?

He kept his face in his hands, trying to quell the need to break down crying again but to no avail. Tears began their steady path down his dirty cheeks and his shoulders began to jerk against his sobs. They had needed his protection and he wasn't there to provide it. He had promised Kensha so many things; that they would get married, that they would move into a bigger apartment, that they would live together happily for the rest of their lives, that she would never be without him...then he goes and leaves her defenseless to Kisame's torture!

He had failed them both—Kensha _and_ their daughter. And now, because of his incompetence, he was in danger of losing the both of them.

"Naruto?"

Naruto jerked with a small hiccup, hastily wiping his eyes as he recognized the voice. Sure enough, as he pulled his face out of his arms he saw Yamanaka Ino hovering above him, looking confused and alarmed.

The young blonde's medical skills were a bit above average at best, so as soon as she was free from defending Konoha she took to mostly filling in positions on the upper floors while Sakura took control on the first and second floors during the rush of wounded. The casualties were low for this attack, and for that she was thankful, but she still found it strange that the Rain-nins had left so quickly. Hell, even the attack was strange; she was pretty sure that there was some deeper conspiracy behind it all. One that even a chuunin like herself wouldn't be authorized to know yet.

Just another strange thing to add to her day was finding Uzumaki Naruto sitting on the floor of the maternity ward, clothes soaked in blood and _crying_. Especially after she had just run into Kiba earlier and heard about him "leaving" the battle.

"What the hell are you doing up here?" she asked him, deciding to be frank, "And why the hell did you leave? Don't bother denying it; I've already heard it from Kiba."

He didn't respond to the insistent tone, instead shrinking in on himself even more and staring blankly ahead. He was no longer crying, but his eyes remained raw and bloodshot and she then noticed that he was shaking.

She approached him slowly, her confusion turning into concern rather rapidly.

"Hey," she said in a much softer tone, "What's wrong? What happened?"

He shook his head and scrunched up his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something before gritting his teeth and holding back another sob. His behavior was becoming more alarming by the second; there weren't very many things she could think of that would leave him in this state.

The sound of a new born baby wailing shocked them both. Ino knew that she shouldn't have been surprised; after all, this was the floor for deliveries. It was probably her focus on Naruto that had made the new sound so startling.

Naruto had audibly gasped and scrambled to his feet, causing Ino, who was leaning over him, to swear and jump back, more confused than ever. Before he could barge into the room the door slid open, and the hard, unreadable face of Tsunade stared them both down.

"Naruto, I'd like to speak with you," she began curtly but Naruto had already pushed past her and into the room like a man possessed. She scowled and turned to yell at him but caught sight the other blonde.

"Yamanaka, continue your duties," she addressed her, leaving no room for argument.

Ino looked like she would very much like to go against that order and demand why Naruto was allowed in and not her, but the severe look on the Hokage's face was enough for her to obey without question.

Tsunade sighed and issued her assistants to leave, sliding the door shut behind them to ensure her and Naruto some privacy. When Naruto first brought the woman to her she assumed it was just a civilian he saved who got caught in the wreckage. The young woman had predictably died soon after she was placed on the mat, but the child was still alive after a messy emergency cesarean among the heavy wounds.

With the mother dead during the first section of the labor, there were many complications that could have arisen, but the child was unusually strong and survived against all odds. That should have been the first sign.

It was then, as she lifted the child out of the corpse, which all thoughts of this being a random civilian flew out the window. She had thought Naruto's anxiety over the woman's well being and his want to be in the operating room were a little extreme, but she just chucked it off to being the emotional person that he was.

Then she saw the child. The healthy, screaming girl with the thin, damp smattering of blonde hair on her soft head, the two distinctive whisker marks on each cheek, the tiny, barely noticeable points on each fingernail...

"K-Kensha!"

She turned away from the closed door, her anger, disappointment and desire to scold Naruto for his irresponsible actions all but died at the sight she now faced. He was leaning over the body, his face pressed into her hair as he muttered inaudibly into the limp tresses. Fresh tears were streaming down his cheeks and he began to kiss around her motionless eyes, whispering his desires for her to wake up. But the girl did not; her lips were pale and her face peaceful, still grimy with blood and dried tear streaks. It was obvious that her last moments of life were not pleasant.

"I'm sorry, Naruto," Tsunade said softly, trying to remain as detached as possible. Despite the unpleasantly shocking revelation, her heart was pulled at seeing her self-appointed 'little brother' so torn up like this.

Naruto sniffed and tried to compose himself, standing straighter and opting to brush his hand along her stiff forehead.

"Where is she?" he asked lowly, continuing to gaze at his dead fiancé.

Tsunade didn't need to ask to whom he was referring to. Noiselessly, she walked to the other side of the room, where a clear incubator rested, inside was the pink, grunting form of a newly born infant. Naruto's feet followed her in a daze; his eyes seemingly glued to the writhing mass of pudgy flesh.

"That's..."

His voice trailed off and he pressed his hands against the short, glass walls, leaning over to get a better look at his daughter. Tsunade couldn't help but smile at the unguarded awe reflecting on his face, washing away the grief for that moment.

"For a two-week premature baby, she's pretty big. Seven pounds, three ounces, eighteen inches. That's a good sign," she informed him gently. The child, while active, ceased its screaming unusually early—it was as if she could sense the death around her and as she was taken away from her mother's corpse, calmed down.

With a shaking hand, he slowly reaching into the cushioned container and, ever so lightly, ran the side of his knuckle against her cheek, knowing that he was feeling the softest skin imaginable. The little girl immediately stopped squirming at the touch of her father, the short arms and legs falling still, recognizing him the same way she had in the womb, even with her eyes clenched shut.

"C-can I...?"

He wanted to hold her—that much was obvious. Giving in to the irresistible tenderness in his voice, she reached into the bed and lifted the baby out, wrapping her naked form in a small blanket. Her assistants had already cleaned the child up the second she left the mother's stomach, so the baby was a raw pink with patches of splotchy purple, the short, twisted bluish-white remains of the umbilical cord still attached to the protruding stomach.

"Keep a good grip on her," Tsunade advised him as she slowly placed her in his arms, "Your right arm needs to cradle her body—yes, like that—and make sure you support her head with your elbow. That's very important. There you go..."

The baby was now secured in his arms—trembling though they were—and cradled against his chest. Her fidgeting had decreased greatly and her puffy eyes remained sealed closed, seemingly content to just lie in her father's arms.

"She's so little. I feel like I could hurt her," Naruto whispered. His heart was fluttering madly and a comforting warmth spread swiftly through his body, overriding all the hurt and pain and tragedy he experienced in the last hour. This was his baby...his...and she belonged here, in his arms. No one was ever going to take her away from him. Not Tsunade, not Konoha, and not the Akatsuki.

So lost was he in the fascination of looking at a product of his creation that he hadn't notice Tsunade move away from him until she returned holding out a warm bottle of formula.

"It's a miracle she's been this quiet," Tsunade said softly, guiding him to a chair next to the bed, "But she definitely needs to eat now."

Naruto sat in the chair, trying not to look at Kensha's now sheet-covered body, and focused on Tsunade's instruction on how to feed his daughter—holding the bottle at a certain angle with one hand, supporting her head a little higher, maintaining a strong hold on the length of her body.

Even with her eyes closed the baby knew a meal was near and the second the nipple of the bottle brushed her cheek she turned her head and latched onto it, making little suckling and grunting noises as she greedily took in the formula. Naruto laughed a little—Kensha probably would have made a joke about how she got her appetite from her father...

Tsunade had never given birth to a child of her own—perhaps it was because of all the deliveries she had made that had her deciding it was better not to put herself through that...especially since she used to have such an infliction with blood. But watching the light return to Naruto's eyes after he looked so broken just moments before was enough to make her question her decision. Perhaps if Dan had lived, or if she had opened her stubborn heart to Jiraiya, that could have been her with such a terrified and elated expression on her face.

She shook the thought from her head and grimaced. She learned long ago that such reminiscing would bring nothing but heartache. Right now she needed to cover the dirty details with the new father.

"Naruto, we need to talk about what's going to happen now."

"What's to talk about," he said, and he looked away from the baby only to turn his steel gaze on the Hokage, "I'm keeping her."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

**NOTE**: The only reason Naruto was able to off Kisame so efficiently was because he and the Kyuubi both had the same intentions with his power. Usually it's Naruto wanting to use the Kyuubi's chakra to help his friends and Kyuubi trying to take advantage of that by causing as much destruction as possible—I believe the conflicting intentions make Naruto's utility of it more unstable. This was a very rare situation where they were both pissed beyond belief for the same reasons and were able to take full advantage of that. It was a rare situation and this kind of efficiency with Kyuubi's chakra probably won't happen again for Naruto—so don't go thinking this is some sudden, super power he's acquired. He needs to work at it!! XD

Also a good thing to know is that I'm going to keep this outside events pretty close to cannon, but it's going to be spread out over a much longer time span. I'm sure that made no sense but one day you'll know.

Give **strider714** a big hand for marking this up before I posted it. I am clearly drunk off life when I write.

I don't know who's been keeping up with the manga lately but...omfgsagemodenarutosweetnesshawt!!111!!one!!

And commence drooling...now.

Tell me what you think so far!


	5. How to Keep a Secret

**Chapter 5**

"I beg your pardon?"

"I'm keeping her," Naruto repeated calmly. Tsunade repressed the urge to throttle him; it might not bode well for the infant.

"I don't think you understand what it means to be a parent," she chided him lightly. She was aware that he was upset, but the idea of him raising a baby alone at this age was simply ridiculous. Especially for someone like him, "It's a responsibility I know you aren't ready for."

"See...this is why I didn't tell you about Kensha," Naruto growled, holding the baby a little closer to his chest in a protective gesture, "I _knew_ you were going to try and take her away from me!"

The older woman rubbed the bridge of her nose; she could have foreseen the agitation, but she didn't think he'd be this difficult about it.

"Naruto," she started slowly so that she could get her point across, "I know you're hurt and upset and have just gone through what looks like a terrible ordeal, but you can't make rash decisions like this. Putting her up for adoption would be the best option for both you and her. As the Hokage of this village I really can't allow you to keep the child, it's for her own protection _and_ for your own good. We can give her to a family that will know how to care for her, and provide a much safer life."

"Up for adoption, huh?" he muttered blandly and removed the half-empty bottle from the baby's mouth, placing it on the small table between the chair and the bed. The girl protested a little, giving a half-cry as warm milk dribbling down the sides of her mouth, but soon settled down again, perfectly content to just remain in her father's arms.

"Do you see these?" Naruto asked rhetorically and gently raised one of the baby's hands to display the soft, pinprick claws.

"...or these?" his fingers trailed lightly along the twin strips adorning a pudgy cheek. He hardly noticed how his hands were still trembling, too set on making the Hokage see his point.

Tsunade sighed, "I know she's a little different Naruto—"

"A little?" Naruto cut her off, anger flashing in his eyes, "The Kyuubi's genes are in her, Tsunade—he told me himself! This could just be the beginning for all we know. He was all excited because she was going to be part demon...like I am now. That's why the birth control didn't work..."

The medic's eyes widened at the revelation. It seemed the boy wasn't as completely irresponsible as she initially thought. And that the Kyuubi was involved so deeply was unsettling. Naruto continued, his voice hard as steel.

"So I'm sorry to destroy your plans of tearing us apart, but my daughter is not going to be adopted. Konoha isn't exactly known for its sympathy towards demonic children," he spat out with such derision that Tsunade flinched. She couldn't argue with him there. Even with Konoha's citizens steadily turning their views on the container, after this last attack...

"As the Hokage of this village, I guess it would be your responsibility to make sure a baby wouldn't end up in a dangerous environment," the shaking boy mocked her, throwing her own words in her face. Before she could snap at him to be more respectful he continued again, "There is no _fucking_ way in hell that _anyone_ in this village is going to go near my child without my permission. Got it?"

The baby fussed and struggled, not liking the disquieting anger that emitted from her father. Naruto only held her tighter, not yet sure on how to calm her.

Tsunade retained her composure, reminding herself over and over again in her head that the boy had just suffered a horrible loss and was feeling threatened. He had every right to be angry like this.

"I'm sorry Naruto," she started out by apologizing, "I wasn't informed enough to be making those decisions. But still, the fact remains that this is a very precarious situation. Especially after that senseless attack—"

"It wasn't senseless," Naruto interrupted quietly. Tsunade looked at him sharply.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, it wasn't senseless. It was planned. The leader of the Akatsuki sent those ninja to keep our forces occupied on one side of town so that Kisame could sneak into my apartment and take me out there—probably waiting for me to return and catch me off guard..."

"Hoshigaki Kisame?" Tsunade gasped, her eyes hardening, "Why didn't you report this earlier?! _What if he's still in the village?"_

"He's dead," his monotonous voice sounded so foreign to her ears.

"D-dead...how?"

But Naruto didn't answer. Instead he turned his head to the sheet covered-body next to him and everything clicked into place. "Oh...I'm so sorry, Naruto. Who...who was she?"

He glanced down at the dozing bundle in his arms, finding it remarkable that the baby could fall asleep with all the negative energy thickening the air.

"Her name was Usukane Kensha. She was from Earth Country. Jiraiya and I...well, her father hired us to watch her for a couple weeks while he went on some business trip or something like that. He was a daimyo and a real dick; He had her locked away in that castle for most of her life, 'cause he was insane and paranoid—I never bothered to learn the details. Then I started taking her out all the time and I showed her the world outside of her room and...and then..."

He trailed off, his throat tightening as his eyes wandered to the blood stained sheet that covered the woman who he was supposed to share his life with.

"She grew attached?" his audience tried.

He nodded.

"And you had sex?"

Another nod.

"So then what? How long have you been in contact with her? Did Jiraiya know about this?"

Naruto closed his eyes and bowed his head, shaking it as more painful emotions overtook him.

"No...no, I didn't know, he didn't know...Kensha she—she was completely alone for most of the pregnancy...she spent her whole life alone and then she had to go through that by herself as well..." he choked back a sob at the unfairness of it all, "She only came to Konoha a couple weeks ago...that was when I found out."

Tsunade bit her lip, knowing that had to be around the time he found out about Jiraiya and wanting to take the incredibly hurt boy in her arms so she could just protect him from all that was happening. He was a lost, broken mess and it showed on his face and through his actions. His hands had yet to stop shaking.

"She was in the village for two weeks?" she prompted softly instead, bending her knees a little and crouching before him so she could look in his eyes.

He sniffed and nodded.

"Yeah, she's been living with me...I've been using my shadow clones to take up different jobs and I went out in a henge with her to doctor appointments and shopping and stuff. I wanted to keep it a secret until I could show everyone that I could take care of them—that I could be a good father..."

Tsunade placed a hand to her temple as she tried to wrap her mind around what had been happening this whole time. Her apprentice had complained on more than one occasion about his absence as of late, and this was the reason. He had been working his ass off just to prove his worth and provide for his responsibility.

"So that's why you refused Fukasaku-sama's training," she realized aloud, "To stay with her."

"We had already bought a crib and a changing table," he sighed, "We were looking at apartments too. We found one by the park that we could afford. We...we were supposed to go check it out tomorrow. I was even going to marry her...we had all these plans and now...now..."

He was going to cry again—he didn't think he'd cried this much even as a child. But never had he felt this much raw, emotional pain and all at once. It was overwhelming; the feeling of having something he'd longed for dangled in front of his face and then having it cruelly snatched away.

A manicured hand rubbed through his dirty hair and scooped his cheek. It was oddly difficult, but he managed to raise his head to meet honey-brown eyes head on.

"Naruto, you did the best you could; there was hemorrhaging along the womb in addition to her other injuries...she was bleeding from the inside, she wouldn't have made it. And you killed an S-class missing-nin. You saved so many people in doing that."

"I was still too late."

"Not for her," she replied and gently touched the baby's forehead. A small smile finally returned to Naruto's lips and that was all she needed.

"Yeah," he whispered, rubbing the small whisker-marks with the pad of his thumb.

It may have seemed irrational, but holding this child in his arms—_his child_—brought forth a rush of memories he had suppressed for ages. He was never one to look back, afraid that if he did he would become bitter. Now that the intense paternal instincts were kicking in, he couldn't imagine allowing his own child to go through any of that—any of the tortured loneliness, neglect and on occasion abuse he was put through. Not in a million years would he even chance it, it hurt him just to think about it.

Reading those baby books had served to bring him more awareness to how terribly he was treated, and how he could have ended up. He knew for a fact that there was no one to touch or cuddle him as a baby, something that babies _needed_ for proper cognitive development. Learning to speak and learning to walk were far greater challenges for him than he supposed they were meant to be. As was learning to read and write. There were so many obstacles in his youth that _shouldn't have been there_. He had heard so much about how his father was a genius; maybe, if he had been given a similar environment to be raised in, he could have been one too...

He shook the unwanted thoughts from his mind. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about what could have been for _him_; it was all about her now, his baby. He didn't want his child to be at the same disadvantage that he was at.

"Naruto...is she _purring_?"

Snapping out of his thoughts, he glanced down to the baby who was clearly enjoying the ministrations of his thumb against her whiskers. A faint humming noise was burbling from her chest, showing her approval to both Naruto's presence and his attention.

"Oh yeah," he laughed sheepishly, withdrawing his thumb and shifting the girl a little in his arms, "The whiskers...they, uh, they do that sometimes."

Tsunade's lips quirked and Naruto paled a little under the sly grin she was gracing him with.

"Really?" In all honesty, the fifty-three year old woman wanted nothing more than to squeal at the top of her lungs and glomp the baby girl. The Kyuubi was certainly granting Naruto's bloodline some unique gifts. "So it works on you too?"

Naruto didn't answer—refused to answer, more like—fighting back a blush as he closed his eyes.

"Baa-chan..." he sighed, his mood simmering down once more, "I'm going to raise her. You get that, right?"

Tsunade straightened and adjusted her green jacket, pushing away the whisker revelation. She took in the sight of Naruto, his arms wrapped around his happily purring child, and sighed…she couldn't do it. She couldn't separate them.

"Yes, Naruto I get it. But the situation is far more risky with you; I hope you can recognize that."

"I do," he cut her off for what seemed like the umpteenth time that night and returned to her a stare full of fierceness, "The Akatsuki have shown that they have no problem with hurting whoever they wish just to get to me—Asuma, Jiraiya, K-Kensha...and I know that I'm not nearly powerful enough to take them on, or protect anyone from them. I need to train. But at the same time, my daughter isn't human and I could never trust anyone but myself to raise her. So I am going to raise her, and I am going to get stronger without the Akatsuki ever finding out about her. As far as I know, Kisame was the only one who knew about Kensha and now he's dead. This is an opportunity I _have_ to take advantage of before it's too late."

The woman blinked; he certainly understood the situation far better than she thought he did.

"And how do you propose you take advantage of this opportunity?"

"I can disappear," he stated seriously, "With none of the Akatsuki aware of what happened here yet, me and the baby can disappear before they realize what went on. I won't be a ninja, and I'll hide within civilians."

Tsunade shook her head, "Naruto, everyone in this village recognizes you—"

"Not here," he cut her off and at her humorless look he was quick to add, "You're going to have to trust me. I know a lot of ordinary civilian villages right here in Fire country. They're close—close enough to maintain inconspicuous contact but not so much that I'll run into any familiar faces. And if Akatsuki find out I left Konoha they won't think I just went next door, they'll think I traveled somewhere far to either avoid them or spare Konoha."

She pursed her lips; he did pose a good argument. But she really wasn't comfortable with the idea of him away from the protection Konoha could offer. And the baby! How could she trust him to raise a baby by himself? He was a sixteen-year-old orphan!

"I can see your reasoning Naruto, but what do you know about child rearing?"

Naruto looked down and bit his lip. The answer was a painfully obvious 'nothing'. He never had parents and he never had an appropriate upbringing. But that made him want to take care of her all the more. He could never, ever allow his child to experience anything he had. She would never know hate or scorn or loneliness or hunger or coldness. He was ready to give her anything—she only entered this world less than an hour ago and already he would sacrifice everything he ever worked for just to bring her happiness. And if that meant leaving Konoha to do so, then so be it.

"Just all the books Kensha had, really," he answered truthfully, "But, as weird as this sounds, I have the help of the Kyuubi...and my instincts. Please, Baa-chan, you need to trust me. I can do this. I wouldn't say so if there was even a chance that the baby would get hurt. This is the only way I can protect her from the Akatsuki and anyone else until I'm strong enough! The Akatsuki doesn't know about her yet—I _have_ to take advantage of this!"

Tsunade knew the words he spoke were true, and despite all the evidence pointing otherwise, she believed him when he said he could do it. He just had they kind of power over her. God damn it, the elders were going to give her so much shit for this...

"Fine," she even winced as the words left her mouth, "consider this a long-term mission. I won't make you give up your shinobi status, but I'm not comfortable with you being away from Konoha alone with the Akatsuki out there and with a child no less. I want you to be in constant contact with me."

"I'll use toads, alright?" he offered her as placation. "And I'll find a way to reconnect with Jiraiya's spy-network. I'll make this work."

"Yeah, summons seem like a good idea," She muttered. She wouldn't admit it to him, but she was impressed with how fast he was thinking of solutions. The more pressure he was under, the better he preformed. "And I can send people over to check up on you—"

"No."

"Naruto—"

"No. No one else can know," he glared. "This is my daughter, we're talking about; I'm not taking any chances."

"But you _are_ taking a chance," Tsunade growled, trying to make him see reason. It was one thing to let him raise a child alone and away from the safety of Konoha, but completely cut off from any outside help? To only have one-way communication? "I just...this is just too dangerous. What if the Akatsuki find you and you're defenseless with a child—!"

"Baa-chan!" he interrupted her sharply, "I know the dangers, damn it. But I did train under Jiraiya. When I say I'm going to disappear, I mean _disappear_. No one will find me unless I want to be found. Please, just trust me on this. I can do this Baa-chan, we both know I can."

She dropped her face in her hands and rubbed at her temples. There was so much about this situation that was just so frustratingly _wrong_.

"I know...but...but..._God_—you are _so stupid_! If you weren't holding a baby I would knock you through the wall."

The younger blonde grinned softly, knowing he had won.

"Why do you think I haven't put her down yet?"

Tsunade shook her head, reaching down and running her fingers over the downy infant head. They baby had stopped purring since her whiskers were no longer being stroked, but she continued to give off an aura of contentment at all the attention.

"I want to see this little girl again, Naruto. She is really beautiful."

Naruto's eyes softened as he fondly looked over the sleeping babe, "Yeah, she is."

Tsunade watched the pair of them for a moment, still unable to get over how happy Naruto seemed just holding the baby. Finally she asked the question she had been meaning to all along.

"Are you at least going to tell anyone in your team?"

"No."

"Not even Sakura?"

"Yeah, right, she'll hit me harder than you would have," he said it jokingly but she had a feeling he still didn't want to tell the girl.

"You really don't want to tell anyone?" she stressed, frowning at his answer.

"You know how it is; loose lips, sink ships," he answered simply while pointedly not meeting her eyes, knowing that she clearly disapproved of his decision. "The less people who know, the less chance the Akatsuki will find out about her and potentially use her as leverage. They came into this village and murdered Kensha. They didn't even know what her connection with me was and they still killed her! Just because she was in my house! Image what they would do if they knew I had a daughter! We _cannot_ tell anyone, ok? I'm not powerful enough to protect her yet."

Tsunade knew he was right; the Akatsuki were ruthless and the baby was in danger as long as she was associated with Naruto.

"Naruto, this is a ninja village. Everyone knows how to keep a secret."

"I know this is a ninja village, that's why everyone _knows_ the secrets."

"...good point."

Tsunade didn't like not being able to be open with her apprentice, but it was Naruto and his child's life at stake and therefore his wishes that she had to abide. That and he did have a valid basis. Somehow, information always found a way to leak into unwanted intelligence, no matter how well guarded the secret.

"This can't last forever...eventually you'll have to come back and be truthful with your friends."

"Eventually," he conceded. It could be years though; he wasn't going to come out until he knew he could protect everyone he loved.

"Alright," she said as though in finalization, "I need to get back out there to the injured, so we can't go over all the details right now, but come see me later and I'll have her papers and birth certificate made."

With a curt nod Naruto slowly stood up, careful not to jar the baby too much.

"Yeah, I should probably go try to salvage what I can from my apartment..." he mumbled, the reality of the village outside the hospital room returning to him.

"Yes, that would be prudent. Though, I have to know—will you be taking the Namikaze name? You have that option now and I forgot to ask earlier."

Naruto stopped just a few feet shy of the incubator and stared at her. He hadn't ever thought about taking up his father's name, not even when his lineage was first revealed to him. His father was the last Namikaze as far as he knew...so should he carry on in his father's name? But his mother was also the last Uzumaki. Was there one that should take priority over the other?

He thought about it for a quiet moment before giving his answer.

"No. I'm an Uzumaki, and will remain so."

"Are you sure?" the Sannin asked, not quite expecting him to decline the chance to take advantage of his heritage.

Naruto nodded resolutely, "The Namikaze name is already honored. I need the Uzumaki stigma...so I can destroy it."

A slim, blonde eyebrow rose at his reasoning, surprised, but impressed as always.

"Besides," Naruto continued, "it wouldn't be very fair to my mother's memory for me and my dad to all but drag her family name through the mud and then abandon it."

Tsunade laughed, "Very well. So, I take it we should be drawing up documents for an Uzumaki clan? Your Kyuubi characteristics are obviously part of your genetic makeup by this point; judging by your child's whiskers and purring habit. That's a pretty distinct trait for your surname."

"No."

The woman blinked, once again blindsided by another unexpected response, "No? But you just said you wanted Uzumaki didn't you...?"

"I want a family, not a clan," Naruto said somewhat haughtily.

"Is there a difference?" Tsunade asked with small amusement.

Naruto gave her a dark look, "Yes. With all the rules and rituals clans undertake to remain unique they've become little more than cults. I mean, come on, and just look at the Hyuuga with their birdcage seal or the Uchiha with their best friend killing thingy! Crazies. Well, _I_ think so anyway. Families have strong bonds; that's all we need."

He finished his reasoning by looking down at his daughter, as if to drive in a point. Tsunade's retort about how clans were meant to be seen as honorable and traditional was cut off prematurely by Naruto's audible gasp.

"Her eyes are open...!"

Indeed, beautifully dark shades of blue eyes were fixated on Naruto's face as though it was the only thing in the world. For the baby it was, as it was all she could see.

Naruto smiled shakily down at her and her face mimicked his, showing a gummy cavern.

"She's smiling," he whispered, leaning in a little and grinning more, "Hi, beautiful."

The baby waved a curled hand at his face and made a soft grunting sound.

"Babies love faces," Tsunade informed him. He nodded and remembered reading about it in one of the baby books. Slowly, carefully, he lowered the infant into the firm bedding where she moaned her disapproval at leaving his hold. He hushed her with soft murmurs and warm, petting fingers against her cheeks.

"Hitomi," he whispered, staring into those indigo eyes that he somehow knew would one day lighten into a shade matching his own; just as Kensha had predicted.

"I'm sorry?" Tsunade asked, unsure if she heard him speak or not. She was so wrapped up in watching him interact with his child, as though he had been a parent all his life. It made her put that much more faith in him.

"Her name...is Uzumaki Hitomi..."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

If his apartment was in bad shape before, one half was completely decimated now. The living room was destroyed, there was simply no salvaging of anything in this room; the table was splintered, stuffing from the couch stuck to the walls and floor, the tv was punched in and still crackling with small power surges. The stench was awful; blood coated the walls thicker than the peeling paint itself—and was particularly concentrated around the remains of Kisame's body.

Kicking his way through the rubble, Naruto made his way into the kitchen where the fridge was turned over and milk and orange juice were leaking onto the floor. To his left he saw a largely damaged kitchen table, still with the newspaper and red marker that Kensha was holding just moments before her death...

Naruto shook his head violently, trying to will the images away from him. He didn't have time to be thinking about his failures right now! He still had Hitomi and he was going to protect her and give her everything he never had.

Taking a deep breath (and gagging a little on the foul air) he climbed over the downed fridge and pillaged through the cabinets, pulling out all the baby formulas and bottles they had bought a few days ago. He pulled out a scroll at his hip and quickly sealed everything he thought he would need from the kitchen, including cooking utensils.

He then made his way to his bedroom, the shards of Samehada's remains crunching under his ribbed sandals, and made sure to give the shark-man's body a hard kick on his way by for good measure. Thankfully this part of the apartment was still pretty much intact; Kisame must have never made it this far.

Immediately, he set about to sealing away the changing table and crib in more storage scrolls, as were the rest of his weapons, clothes, the few baby clothes Kensha had picked out, diapers, baby powder, baby wipes, and some other odds and ends. He knew he couldn't take any of his favorite orange jumpsuits—they were far to distinctive to him, so it was with a resigned sigh that he passed them over in favor of the few plain t-shirts and pants he owned. He cleared out what he could from the bathroom such as shampoo and toothpaste but the whole shower wall had collapsed so it wasn't easy recovering what he could.

A whole scroll was dedicated to the few things Kensha had—some clothes and her hairbrush being the gist of it—for the day Hitomi would want to know a little more about her mother.

Lastly, he pulled the manila envelope that he had put off looking through for far too long from his closet. He would memorize these files and take up the responsibility that Tsunade had given him two weeks ago in addition to raising his daughter. The folder was packed away, along with the many storage scrolls, in a small backpack and hefted over his shoulder.

It took close to an hour, but he had eventually gotten everything that might have been useful. Just before exiting he paused at Kisame's disfigured body, and, after a moment of thought took the "south" Akatsuki ring from his cold, left ring-finger. Those rings had some sort of power involving the removal of demons—why allow it a chance to fall back into Akatsuki's hands?

The sun had set a while ago, leaving the travel-ready young man standing on his bedroom balcony in the dark. The moon was full and shining down a good amount of light for nighttime travel.

It was weird, but the second Naruto had left his daughter in that hospital room he had begun shaking. He couldn't stop the overwhelming fear that consumed him whenever Hitomi wasn't in his arms. He could easily admit that he was afraid—hell, he was downright terrified. Raising a baby while in hiding from the most powerful organization of that era was something to fear. Doubts were rising up along with his insecurities, making him question his brash choices.

No, he didn't have time for second guessing or intricate planning. He had to do everything on the fly which, thankfully, was what he was good at. Taking a deep, calming breath, he ran his hands through a short series of hand seals.

"_Katon: housenka no jutsu_!"

A dozen fireballs spread out from his mouth and he stood by and watched as the apartment that he had lived in (and not always comfortably) for nearly nine years was caught up in flames. Every memory trapped within those walls—both good and bad—drowned in those licking tongues of fire, joining the gathering piles of ashes.

The phoenix flower jutsu...the perfect technique to end one life, and begin another.

With one last look at the burning residence he leapt off of his balcony and out into the night, in the direction of the hospital. He had little time to do this; Tsunade would be sending ANBU to his place soon enough once the commotion at the hospital died down and he really couldn't afford to meet anyone before he left the village. The woman would kill him for leaving like this; but even she couldn't hold his full trust at this point. No one could.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Sakura moaned and scratched at a crusty eye as her mind slowly caught up with her waking body. She felt stiff and uncomfortable, not to mention dirty.

With a soft groan she pushed herself upright, the wheels of the hospital guest bed squeaking as her weight shifted.

"Oh God..." she whined, holding her head in her hand. What had she been doing? And why was she here? Yesterday evening came rushing back to her all at once: the attack, the fighting, the seemingly endless rush of civilians that had been injured after being caught unawares, commanding all the nurses and doctors for hours...

Of course, she had passed out on one of the spare guest beds after everything had settled down due to the sheer amount of chakra she had used. She still really needed to work on her reserves.

'_However...I don't remember getting a blanket,'_ she thought to herself, picking at the scratchy material pooled around her lap.

She shrugged and meant to push herself up off of the bed when a small crinkling noise drew her attention to her left hand. A messily folded piece of paper had been lain out next to her body, clearly meant to be found for when she woke up.

Still half-awake, she curiously opened the letter to a hastily scribbled note—the hand writing as obvious as its source—and she immediately knew how she got the blanket.

_Hey Sakura-chan,_

_You work too hard! At least do yourself a favor and use a _real_ bed—not this crap on wheels. I want to apologize to you about our argument before. I wish I could do it in person, but that's not really an option at this point. I know you're probably still mad at me for being a jerk and I'm sorry we had to part on such bad terms..._

"Had to part..." she mouthed to herself. Warning signals were ringing off in her mind at the ominous choice of words and she kept reading.

_...I don't know if you've talked to Tsunade-baa-chan yet but if you haven't then I should start by saying that the attack last night was issued by the Akatsuki. I can't go into the details but I've been sent on a long-term mission, it's S-class, and I'm pretty positive that it's going to take years before I can return..._

Sakura gasped audibly, her mind blanking out as her eyes took in the rest of the letter in bits and pieces.

_...someday I hope to tell you...say goodbye to everyone for me...recent events...priorities changed...can't bother with Sasuke right now...believe me, I have a good reason..._

None of it seemed to register as the information of his S-class, long-term mission attempted to process in her brain. How could he be leaving...just like that...?

The scrap of paper fluttered to the ground as Sakura dashed out the nearest open window and sped as fast as she could to the administration building, where she knew her master would be. She hardly took notice of the hundreds of people milling about, repairing the damages from the attack.

She reached the building and quickly made her way to the top floor where the Hokage's office sat. The secretary perked to attention at the familiar face; the woman looked a bit harried herself.

"Good morning, Yuko-san, I need to see Tsunade-sama for a moment," Sakura threw over her shoulder as she passed.

"Ah, Sakura-san, I don't think it would be best to go in there now she's—"

A loud crash issued from behind the closed doors along with some screaming: "That little shit! I'm going to kill him!"

The timid looking woman bit her lip, "Yeah, that, she—uh—Haruno-san—?"

Sakura ignored the secretary and marched right into the office, slamming the door behind her. The secretary winced at the loud noise and decided right then and there that she didn't get paid enough. Too bad she would never have the guts to ask for a raise.

Tsunade turned her furious gaze to the sound of her door slamming, the noise that had so rudely interrupted her angry pacing and ranting, only to meet equally angry green eyes.

"Shishou, where is Naruto?" Sakura demanded in the strongest voice she dared to speak in. It was the one question Tsunade was hoping she wouldn't have to answer.

"I don't know."

"Don't lie to me!" Sakura yelled and Tsunade gaped at her. She had never seen such disrespect from her usually courteous apprentice, "You sent him on an S-class mission that supposed to last years. YEARS! And with the Akatsuki—"

"I don't like this any better than you do," Tsunade informed her, stopping her rant before it really got on a roll. "It was a delicate situation, the contents of which are classified, and believe it or not this was one of the safest ways to handle it."

"But—but—years! I can't not see him in years! He didn't even say goodbye properly, he left me a note! A NOTE! The last thing I ever really said to him was that he was an _ass_ and now you're telling me I can't see him for years?"

Tsunade could see the young woman becoming increasingly upset the more she spoke and silently cursed that little blonde brat for putting them all in this position.

"I wish I could explain everything to you," she said softly, "But all I can tell you now is that Naruto has gotten himself in a bit of trouble, and that the majority of his mission entails him to disappear for a while, especially from the Akatsuki. He will be communicating through toads; they'll just be one-way."

Sakura sniffled a little and crossed her arms, looking out the window defiantly, "That's still not very comforting. I want to talk to him. Now both my teammates are gone..."

"Sakura, Naruto went on a training trip before and you were fine with it. You'll just keep training with me until he gets back so you can kick his ass for leaving earlier than he was supposed to," Tsunade reasoned with her, ending off in a low growl at his tricky departure. It never sat well with a doctor when a baby suddenly disappears from a hospital.

"That was different! He was with Jiraiya-sama so I knew he would be ok. And that was only for a couple of years! He made this sound like it could take ten!"

"It better not take ten..." Tsunade grumbled to herself, clearing her throat as Sakura looked at her curiously. "I'm sorry Sakura, I know this is upsetting for you but you'll just have to accept that Naruto has a mission that takes top priority over everything else in his life."

Her words brought the words of Naruto's letter back to mind. He did mention something about this being a top priority and how their Sasuke search was not as important.

"It's more important than finding Sasuke for him, isn't it?" Sakura asked with a sad smile. He was her teammate and one of her best friends...she should know about this...

"Oh yes," Tsunade replied, "To him, it's more important than being Hokage."

**0o0o0o**

* * *

**0o0o0o**

And now the real story starts. Seriously...that was like a five-chapter prologue.

Yes, Hitomi is the name. Don't like it...deal. I know it sounds a little conventional, but I gave my reasoning a couple A/N's ago. And no name stays whole when it comes to Naruto. :P

And it's UZUMAKI. I really don't like it when people have Naruto suddenly take the Namikaze name just because he finds out who his father is (irk irk irk). It's just not who HE is imo. There are no swirlies involved!! :(

Thanks to **strider714** for editing this—even though I TOTALLY kicked ass this time grammer-wise. See? School _can_ make you smarter!

Thanks for all the input!! Remember, every time you ignore that little button down there, a pathetic fanfic-author somewhere dies.


	6. Bassai

**Chapter 6**

"I—I don't believe you!"

Kiba shot his teammate an annoyed look and rolled his eyes while heaving a plank of wood over his shoulder.

"You can ask Shikamaru if you don't believe me, Hinata, but he really did just leave," the young man grunted.

Shino remained silent as his teammates disagreed; diligently hammering away at the side of the restaurant they were helping to repair. He could understand Kiba's anger at Naruto's apparent abandonment seeing as his friend valued loyalty above all other attributes, but expecting the same indignation from Hinata about her beloved Naruto was foolish.

Hinata looked over to the spiky haired Chuunin who was working on re-tiling the roof of the next-door building with pleading eyes.

"Tch...troublesome..." Shikamaru muttered. He didn't want to be in the position of hurting her feelings, "I don't know all the details ok?"

"Something weird is going on with that boy," Ino muttered, "And Chouji—get off your ass and help us!"

Chouji responded by shoving the last handful of chips into his mouth and wiping his hands on his pants.

"Ah, sorry Ino, I needed a break...how do you mean weird?"

"Well," the pretty, young blonde started, thinking back to everything Sakura had told her, "Apparently he's been hiding away the last couple weeks..."

"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him in a while," Lee said thoughtfully, he and his team had joined the others in their rebuilding a while back since they had finished repairing the railing on the bridge.

"He hasn't even been at Ichiraku's since that mission. Teuchi's been asking me about him lately," Chouji added.

"Well of course he would be acting out of character!" Ten-ten exclaimed, wiping some sweat off her brow with her forearm, "Jiraiya-sama died a couple weeks ago! Remember? That had to have been hard on him."

"But-but-but Ichiraku's?!" Chouji exclaimed, unable to grasp the concept of missing out on ramen, even in the middle of grieving. For him, food was the ultimate comfort. If anything he should have been seeing more of his blonde friend on his usual stool.

Ino shot all three dirty looks for interrupting her.

"_Anyway_, when I was working in the hospital after those rain-ninja had retreated I found him on the fourth floor."

"B-but that's—!" Hinata said, looking a bit alarmed. Ino nodded and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Right, the maternity ward. It was so weird. He was just drenched in blood and he was crying. And when I asked him about it he couldn't even answer me. It was like he was in a trance or something!"

Kiba cocked his head to the side and traded looks with Akamaru.

"Well...shit...that _is_ weird..."

"Let me get this straight," Neji spoke up and he settled down on a stack of lumber, "First Naruto disappears for a couple weeks, never going to Ichiraku's and not talking to anyone, then during the invasion he just runs off in the middle of a battle, then Ino sees him in the fourth floor of the hospital of all places while hysterical, and then his apartment burns down later that evening. Did I miss anything?"

"Wait—his apartment burned down?" Ino cried, alarmed. She hadn't realized she let the hammer slip from her hands until Kiba started jumping around below the ladder she was standing on, holding his head. The majority of their party was now looking at Neji in shock—aside from his own teammates.

Tenten gave her a side-long look, "Yeah. You didn't hear? All the jounin were talking about it—Neji told us. Apparently there were remains of some large ninja in there as well. I think they're still running tests on it."

"It was Hoshigaki Kisame," Lee said resolutely, earning more bewildered looks and he guiltily clarified, "I might have bribed Gai-sensei with an extra three-hundred laps around the village..."

Tenten gave him a strained smile and patted him awkwardly on the back.

"Uh...good work Lee..."

"So this _is_ related to Akatsuki," Shikamaru mumbled, glaring at a spot on the ground as he mulled over the possibilities. It made so much more sense now. The attack was clearly a diversion...Naruto had spotted that before him, unsettling as the thought was. Though, now that he thought about it, Naruto would have to be able to have his guard up all the time with that organization trying to kill him.

"You can add being sent on a long-term S-class mission to that list," a new voice joined the group, catching everyone's attention. Sakura approached, looking particularly glum as her dragging gait came to a stop.

The bewildered and blank looks sent her way were enough of a response.

"Yeah, apparently he left sooner than scheduled. Shishou is throwing a fit..."

"H-How long will he be gone?" Hinata asked fearfully.

Sakura looked down at her toes, "Years."

"Years..." the young heiress felt lightheaded all of a sudden. "Years without Naruto-kun..."

Her eyes rolled up in her head and she fell forwards.

"Ahh! What the hell? How does he make her faint when he's not even here?" Kiba cried, diving to catch the falling body of his comrade.

"You sure forehead?" Ino asked quietly to her friend. The depression radiating off of the rosette was almost contagious.

"Yeah, I'm sure," she muttered, wrapping her arms around herself. A sudden, unwelcome feeling of complete isolation washed over her, leaving goosebumps to pop up all along the exposed, pale skin of her arms. Sure, Tsunade-sama had tried to pump her up about training more, but she felt so lost without a sure-fire goal before her. She felt so distant from Naruto; like she hardly even knew him anymore in the course of a couple weeks. How did this happen?

"He is the most troublesome boy I have ever known."

Shikamaru looked at Ino.

"For once, I have to agree with you."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Traveling with an infant was much harder than Naruto had originally expected it to be. In truth, he didn't know what he was expecting. He had near unlimited stamina, exceptional speed, and a unique ability to maneuver through tree branches using all four of his limbs for maximum efficiency. Sadly none of these abilities would aid him when a fragile baby fussing at the slightest discomfort was his cargo.

As soon as he had packed away all he could and removed his daughter from the hospital room (while dodging the night-shift nurses) he summoned a shadow clone in preparation for a hastily thrown together escape plan. The security may have been upped due to the sudden attack, but ANBU were focusing on keeping outsiders out, rather than keeping the insiders in. Darkness had just fallen and there was still enough tension and commotion amongst the village to be distracting. It was now or never.

Baa-chan had probably drawn up his mission papers by that time anyway, so he was free to leave the village, but he knew he had to leave before she had a chance to find out exactly where he was going. Even if she was the Hokage, he wasn't going to take any chances. She had a good enough idea of his general plan and hopefully that would be comfort enough to keep her from retracting the mission and sending ANBU after him.

He had instructed the shadow clone to wait until dawn to leave out the front gate of the village with a backpack, making sure to be seen by at least two chuunin guards. The shadow clone was to head as far north as his range would allow him to—stopping in a couple villages along the way with the intent of being spotted. Meanwhile he had already left through the forests on the back end of Konoha hours beforehand, heading south towards one of the lesser villages of Fire Country.

It was due to rain sometime in the next couple days. He knew Tsunade would be furious with him for leaving before she could somehow keep some sort tabs on him (and he knew she was going to try something—a bug, chakra signature reading, anything to keep her informed)—but he also knew she would keep the ANBU from tracking him. She respected him too much for that.

The traveling pace was too slow for comfort, but he was terrified of jarring the baby too much to alleviate his own insecurities. Not to mention anytime he started to pick up speed she would wake up and began wailing and he did not want to draw attention to himself. Halfway through his journey he realized he was still wearing ninja sandals—a sure giveaway that he was trained in the ninja arts—and he quickly shucked them deep into the brush on the side of the road, vowing to return when he could and properly destroy them. Now he looked purely civilian.

It was probably close to around seven in the morning, nearly ten hours of traveling, before he arrived at the small lumber-trading village of Bassai, weary and barefoot. It was fortunate that not many people were awake to occupy the streets because leaving the cover of the forests had brought attention to the fact that he had failed to change out of his clothes. The coat of blood that had stained his ruined clothes had dried, making it very uncomfortable to move around in.

He didn't need any extra attention, so the quaint looking lodge a quarter-mile into the village was the first place he entered, desperate to find a nice bed to rest in before he planned his next move.

A bell jingled over-head as he pushed the heavy wooden door open with his free hand, hugging the snoozing babe to his chest with the other.

"Hello?" he called out hesitantly to the still environment. He saw a staircase ahead leading to an upper floor; to the right side of those stairs were several circular tables with four chairs balanced upside-down on each one. On the other side were some couches and rugs, most facing a large, barren fireplace. The walls of the Inn looked to be made of logs and there were various moose and bear heads pegged around the room. He shuffled to an empty reception desk near the door and hit the little bell.

"Be right down!" an aged, feminine voice called from the floor above in response to the ring. Naruto tensed as he heard footsteps descending down the stairs; he didn't know why but he suddenly felt extremely nervous about starting this new life, and this woman would be the first in it to meet Hitomi as his daughter.

Flats and thick ankles appeared first, followed by a long, brown swishy skirt stopping at wide-set hips. The hem of a blue vest appeared next, one that overlapped a plain, white T-shirt and covered a strong bust, ending in a v-neck to reveal the freckled skin of a neck. Finally the face appeared to complete the look; rosy cheeks, crescent grey eyes that sprouted crow's feet and long, mousy brown hair streaked with grey that rested against the broad back in a single plait completed the picture. She was a bit heavy set and looked to be in her fifties, but the woman gave off a friendly aura that had Naruto relaxing instantly.

She took one look at her customer and the warm smile dropped right off her face.

"Good Lord, child! What happened? Are you all right?" she cried out in shock while revealing the slight twang in her accent.

"Oh yeah..." he sighed tiredly, relieved at finding a friendly face at his first try, "I just need a room."

"Yes, yes, of course! Come in, come in," she ushered, reaching forwards and placing a large but soft hand on his shoulder and pulling. He hadn't realized how big she was until she was right next to him, standing at least a half-foot taller than him.

"I'll get you settled in one of our rooms. Lots of room here; we don't get too much business around this time of year—mostly during the winter. You take a nice warm bath and settle down and I'll whip you up something to eat."

"Thank you," Naruto said earnestly, his stomach rumbling its agreement.

"Name's Iwate Izanami. But you can just call me Juhi, everyone else does."

He gave her a small smile. He didn't understand it, but he was unable to change his identity. He thought long and hard about it on the way over; thought about all the different names he could use or how he could alter his appearance, but in the end he couldn't stomach the thought of doing either. Perhaps it was the demon pride in him but the notion of 'hiding' didn't sit well with him. He wasn't going to hide who he was as though he was ashamed; he was going to continue to be himself...just different. And less conspicuous.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and this is Hitomi," he introduced himself and his daughter, shifting the baby a little so that her sleeping face was now revealed from the mass of blankets she was wrapped in.

It was as though Juhi had just realized that the bundle in his arms was alive.

"Well I'll be damned!" she exclaimed in a soft whisper, "You got yourself a baby too? My, my, this will be an interestin' story. I'll go get the crib we have in storage. That should—"

"Oh, I have a crib and stuff," Naruto interrupted her before she could trouble herself, "I'm no ninja but I know a thing or two about fuuinjutsu..."

"Alright then," she replied simply, sounding a bit impressed all the while. She leaned in to get a better look at the baby, "What a beautiful little thing she is too. She must be yours, am I right? Looks just like ya'."

Naruto blushed shyly, "Well I hear all babies start out looking like their fathers..."

"Bit young though," Juhi added, squinting at him in a much more scrutinizing manner that had him squirming in shame. In the end she shrugged, "Not my place to say, either way. Come on now; let's get you to that room."

Naruto followed her up the stairs where a similar decoration followed suit to the one on the first floor—logs, pelts, woodsy and homey. She brought him to the second door on the left and unlocked it with a set of keys she produced from her pocket.

"There ya go," she said, gesturing for him to pass her.

He walked in to be met with the sight of a queen-sized bed, a nice-sized window that let in plenty of light, a TV, a dresser, enough space to set up a changing table and crib, and bathroom attached leading through another door

"This is perfect, thank you!" he said as he turned to face her with a small bow, hugging the baby to his chest once more.

Juhi waved him off with a thick hand, "Now, now, none of that. You just get settled down here, take a bath and clean yourself up. Come down stairs and I'll have you some nice stew prepared."

Naruto could only smile gratefully as she closed the door behind her, leaving him and his child to their privacy. He gently set the bundle of blankets down on the center of the bed so that she wouldn't roll off and set to unsealing all that he had packed.

It took him close to an hour before he made it back downstairs again. He first had to set up the crib so he could place Hitomi in it, and then proceeded to unpack the few clothes he and the baby had. He took a quick shower and changed into some fresh pants and a t-shirt—one that didn't have the leaf sigma since he could no longer safely bear that symbol—and left a shadow clone behind in the room. Call him paranoid but he couldn't bear to leave the baby absolutely alone in a room, let alone on a whole other floor.

"Well you look a sight better," Juhi's booming voice came from his right as he descended from the last of the steps. From this point of view he was able to make out the kitchen branching off from the dining area. All of the chairs were now taken off of the tables, making the small lodge seem much more spacious.

"Have a seat," Juhi offered him, placing two bowls on one of the tables; "we have another hour before we officially open so eat up. Where's the baby?"

"Sleeping in the crib I set up," he answered and thanked her as he dug into the hot meal. His stomach was nearly purring its approval of being fed—he hadn't realized that he hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday afternoon. So much had happened...

"I don't mean to pry, but showing up at my lodge covered in blood and barefoot of all things has got me pretty curious," Juhi prompted not so subtly. Of course she was content to watch the young boy all but ravage her meal. She hadn't seen her cooking that much appreciated since her sons still lived with her. The lack of manners didn't even faze her.

Naruto swallowed the mouthful of stew and wiped his mouth on a napkin.

"Our village was attacked by rain-nin," he started; he had already rehearsed this in his head during the long, slow journey, a story that was plausible and not too far from the truth so he could keep at it, "I think they were on their way to attack Konoha or something, we're just north of them after all, but I can't be sure. They just attacked out of the blue...there was almost nothing left by the time we escaped."

"Oh you poor dear, no wonder you looked such a mess!" Juhi gushed. She was so sympathetic that Naruto felt a little bad for lying to her. "What made you come here?"

"I-I don't know. I didn't want to run into those rain ninja again so I went around Konoha. At least I think I did, I never had a very good sense of direction," he laughed, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. A frown soon replaced his half-hearted smile, "And I didn't really have anywhere else to go...Hitomi's mother—"

His throat tightened as he remembered Kensha; the blood-stained sheet that covered her body. He had left her there, alone again.

"H-her mother was killed in the attack...I didn't know what to do..." he glanced down at the half-empty bowl of meat and potatoes and frowned. He _still_ didn't know what to do.

The woman gave him another pitiful look and smiled sadly.

"You poor, poor thing. Well, don't you worry about a thing, you hear? You feel free to stay here as long as you like."

"Oh no," Naruto strongly refused, snapping back to attention and looking astonished that she had even suggested it, "I can't stay here for free!"

"Nonsense!" Juhi laughed, "Ever since my two sons married and left I've been dying for a little more company. I would love for you to stay here, you and your daughter."

Naruto was touched that a total stranger was willing to be so generous towards him after only just meeting, but the thought of essentially leeching off of another's kindness didn't sit well with him.

"With all due respect ma'am, I've never had anything given to me. I can't start now."

"You are sweet," she said with a rosy smile, "Alright, how about this. You stay here for free until you get on your feet and then we'll see what we can do about work, sounds fair? After all, don't take this the wrong way but it looks like you could use all the help you can get with that little one."

Naruto nodded and smiled, the weariness from the events of the last couple days showing on his face as he felt himself finally relax, "Thank you so much, Juhi. I didn't think I'd find someone who would be so helpful towards me."

The woman laughed and patted his head kindly, taking the finished bowl before him.

"Oh, you've never been to Bassai no Sato before, have you? We're a small village, but just about everyone knows everyone—we're all real friendly here. You'll like it. Now, I can tell you're dead on your feet so why don't you hop upstairs and take a nap. You'll learn to take advantage of the times Hitomi is asleep to catch up on your own."

Naruto stood slowly from his chair; now that he found a sense of security in this establishment, his body was really starting to lower its guard and, as a result, the stiffness in his joints was starting to show.

"But I thought newborns usually sleep up to twenty hours a day?" he asked the broad retreating back as she returned to the kitchen.

"Sure!" she called over her shoulder with a bark-like laugh, "If the sun's up!"

Naruto wouldn't know what she meant until later that evening, at the start of a long, sleepless night.

The first of many.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

It didn't take long for Naruto to adjust to his new home. Every morning he would get up for the day (after a periodically interrupted sleep) around seven and create two clones. The arrangement of holding down multiple jobs through the use of shadow clones was something he had started during those weeks with Kensha—and it had worked quite well. Having three sets of income and one set of bills proved to increase his savings exponentially in a short amount of time. Bassai was a town, not a city like Konoha, so his once goal to purchase a larger apartment had been bumped up to buying a small house sometime in the next couple of years. He didn't want to burden Juhi for too long, so he had been secretly sending out the same two clones every morning to work different jobs—jobs that he already had some experience with to ensure being hired.

One clone had henged into a twenty year old brunette with green eyes named Naoto and picked up a waitering job at a restaurant on the other side of town; the other clone called himself Nokku, turning into a middle-aged man of medium stature and graying-black hair who had found work at a lumber factory. He made sure to make both of them rather plain looking as to not to draw any more attention than necessary and both used their ninja skills to drop off their earnings into his bedroom before ending their existence for the day.

Naoto and Nokku weren't the only clones he created. The next step was to send one clone out into the forest, sneaking out the window and into the woods behind the lodge without being seen. That clone would then create forty-nine others and the entire group would travel several miles into the heart of the forest to train, fully utilizing the training method that was unique only to him. It was pointless to work out his body with clones, since physical progress couldn't transfer back to him, but his wind-chakra manipulation training continued full-throttle, often times ending in more and more clones being summoned for the sake of progress.

The shadow-clone jutsu was originally meant for each clone to have its own limited chakra network. The A-rank jutsu was extremely dangerous to the user, and the more clones there were the more the user's chakra was split. For someone with reserves like Naruto, this was hardly fazing; creating two thousand clones left him with only 0.0005 percent of his original chakra supply and he could still kick ass. Usually a clone was created with a fraction of the user's chakra and that was all they had to work with until dispelled; it wasn't meant for clones to be able to draw on the original's reserves.

The "chakra-draw" was a modification Naruto that had spent a long time working on while traveling with Jiraiya. Ironically, this was before he learned the secret of the shadow clones: gaining back their memories and using it to further his training. He only wanted to have clones that were more durable during a battle, ones that could use large-scale jutsu of their own, so after much studying and tinkering (and some heavy guidance from Jiraiya) he managed to open the bank between clone and creator.

It took a quick application of blood seals to the chest of the targeted clone—and the right combination of seals was what took so long to figure out—and a portal of sorts could link the clone and the user together. Unfortunately it was a _one-way_ portal; the clones could draw chakra from him but he could only get it back once they were dispelled. This made the shadow-clone jutsu even more dangerous as he was having chakra pulled out of him from different directions; it was for this reason that he only gave a handful of clones this ability. If he were to open his reserves to a thousand clones he could very well end up killing himself.

The mental strain this method of training left on him was no small impression. Couple with his recent loss of Kensha and trying to figure out how to care for an infant and he was often left feeling overwhelmed by his new lifestyle. But that didn't stop him from keeping up a happy front for Juhi and the rest of the village as best he could.

Even though it was just passing into autumn and not quite Bassai's busy season, the lodge was still a favorite hang-out for many of the adults in the village. Most evenings would have the round tables filled with the usual patrons, eating, drinking and playing cards. This was how Naruto met the majority of the people he now knew, by working at the bar attached to the kitchen as a part of earning his keep. Juhi was delighted that he already had experience with bar work (and no one would say anything about his age as long as he didn't start drinking himself) so she had him take that task off her hands while she got more work done in the kitchen with the two other cooks who worked during the evenings. The warm, laughing atmosphere served to increase the homey feeling of the Inn, allowing Naruto to smile a little more each day despite the fear and guilt he still felt from that traumatizing evening.

Hitomi was a big hit with the locals as well—in fact, her presence probably only served to increase his favor with the village. News traveled fast in the small lumbering town and by the end of the first day people were already stopping by to see the survivors of a destroyed village Juhi picked up. All that was known about them outside the lodge was that they were a young man and his daughter—though no one expected the young man to be so...well, young. Naruto was on the brunt of some suspicious questions for having a child already, but there was no denying that the two were related, especially with the matching whisker marks adorning their cheeks.

Since Naruto wasn't comfortable with letting her out of his sight, Hitomi spent her evenings by his side near the bar in an old baby-seat Juhi dug up from storage. Despite the loud noises and constant coddling she received from the regulars she didn't have seem to have a problem sleeping through it all.

"Two beers and a lime margarita for my lady friend over here," a slick voice broke through the low buzz of the company, drawing Naruto's attention from his reflections.

Satoh Ichiro, the town womanizer. A bit on the scruffy side, thirty, still living with his mother and known to abuse the bottle every now and then, but an otherwise harmless guy. At their first meeting the man was absolutely horrified that Naruto had gotten a girl pregnant—a taboo for any self-respecting skirt-chaser.

Naruto gave him a nod and threw the dishtowel he was using to clean a shot glass over his shoulder, reaching for the bottle opener under the counter.

"Oh, what a cute little baby," cooed the woman attached to Ichiro's arm, "Is she your sister?"

She was clearly a new girl that Ichiro had never taken to the lodge before (he tended to have his arm wrapped around a different waist every other day). The clothes were a little too tight and a little too low-cut for the woman of about average looks, managing to reveal enough cleavage for Naruto to turn away as she leaned over to admire the sleeping baby.

"Nah, that's his daughter, sweets. Can you believe it? Kids these days...no responsibility," Ichiro answered for him, throwing an arm around her bare shoulders and earning an eye roll from the young barkeep.

"Daughter!" she exclaimed, giving Naruto a look of utmost shock. Naruto had grown quite accustomed to it by now after working there for almost three weeks and confirmed it with a small smile. "Well isn't that just the sweetest thing!"

Ichiro choked a bit on the first sip of his beer.

"Eh?"

"You're so cute! Bringing your daughter to work," she cooed again ignoring the margarita Naruto set in front of her in favor of lavishing her attention on the snoozing baby. Even with people touching her head all the time she never stirred; a heavy sleeper, just like her father.

"Well, I like to keep her in my sight as often as possible," he replied, blushing at being called cute.

"Awww, well that's just precious. And you're raising her all by yourself?"

"Yeah, well, Juhi is helping—"

"Alright, alright, the baby's cute," Ichiro interrupted, sounding annoyed at his date's lack of attention. The same thing happened to the last girl he brought up to the bar—young women seemed more interested in babies these days than anything else and he was beginning to see a pattern; he probably should stop bringing them up to the bar with him, "Come on toots, let's get back to the table. I had a good hand this time."

As Naruto watched the slick talker pull the woman away he had to wonder if Ichiro even knew her name.

The clock ticking away over a pair of decorative moose antlers struck nine and like clockwork his clone working at the restaurant dispelled, giving him images of flirting with another waitress, dropping a stack of mugs, and earning a particularly generous tip from—ironically—Ichiro's mother, which was now left on his dresser upstairs. The old woman had a thing for hitting on any male younger than her...which was basically every guy in the village.

He chuckled quietly to himself, marveling at the quirks that could pass down through families...

Unfortunately, about a hundred and seventy clones chose that moment to dispel from the training done in the forest. He was met with flashes of shredding leaves, moving on to applying the same technique to tree branches and using his palms to cut through the thick bark. He could only make it through about half a branch, but it was much harder than cutting through leaves.

He leaned forward over the bar, bracing his arms on the counter in front of him as he tried to hold it together until his mind settled.

"All right?"

He jumped at the feeling of a hand on his back and met concerned, grey eyes with his own as he hastily straightened.

"Oh, uh, yeah. I'm fine," he assured Juhi, rubbing at his forehead. The older woman frowned, clearly unsatisfied with his answer.

She couldn't help but notice that he often seemed weak during the day and sometimes would space out or become faint. She had attributed it to the trauma of seeing his village destroyed and the responsibility of raising a child. He was such a frail looking boy at times, like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders and was struggling under the burden; it was one of the things that made her want to help him so much.

"Why don't you take the rest of the night off? You look exhausted and you've been doing more than your share around here."

Naruto shook his head adamantly.

"Really, Juhi, I'm fine—"

He was interrupted by the wail of Hitomi, who had finally woken from her hour nap and decided she was due for some food. Her last feeding was almost three hours ago.

Juhi sent him a smirk.

"I think little Tomi thinks otherwise. Go on, now, shoo."

Shaking his head bemusedly, he unstrapped the crying baby and lifted her to his shoulder, catching her baby scent of powder and milk; even with the screaming in his ear he could still feel the comfort she brought him. After a quick stop to the kitchen to heat up a bottle of formula he headed upstairs, nodding to the people who bid him goodnight.

He settled on the edge of his bed next to the stack of money his clones had earned elsewhere and shifted Hitomi to his arm so he could feed her. Her crying desisted immediately, replaced by the greedy grunting and suckling of a hungry baby latched onto a nipple. One thing Juhi like to laugh about was Hitomi's extremely healthy appetite; she didn't leave a single drop left over in any bottle.

Naruto watched her as she ate and she returned the same look, big blue eyes connecting directly with his own while her mouth continued to suck the bottle dry of its own accord.

"Hey piggy, how's that taste? You seem to like it," he knew she couldn't reply to him but he liked talking to her as often as he could. "Let me tell you the plan so far; we've got enough money to live here for a while, but by the end of the year, if things keep going as they are, we could have enough money for a house. Wouldn't that be cool? Our own house? You could have your own room for when you get older and we could have a yard where we can train."

He pulled the empty bottle from her mouth and she made a small noise of protest as he set it on the stand next to his bed. He returned her to his shoulder that still had the dish towel on it and began softly, but firmly, patting her back.

"I need to get training," he continued to speak, walking around the room as he burped her, "I mean, the progress with my wind chakra is going great, but I need to train my body physically. I need to find a way to do that without giving away that I'm a ninja though..."

She responded with a tiny hiccup-like burp and a little bit of spit-up dribbling from her mouth. He turned her in his arms and used the dish towel to wipe the frothy, pale substance from her chin.

"If we get our own place it would be easy, but now..." he trailed off thinking, "I suppose I could always have a clone stay here with you and Juhi and work...but I don't know if I trust that system..."

He placed her on the middle of the mattress and stripped off his shirt, preparing for bed. As he rummaged through his dresser for some sweatpants and a tank-top he continued to muse out loud.

"Maybe if I train non-stop on the woods for the first half of the day...and then for the second half come back here with you two and work the bar...I guess that could work. What do you think?"

He turned to find her curling on her back, her foot up by her face and sucking on her big toe. Naruto sweat-dropped.

"You are one weird baby, baby."

She smiled at him, her gums showing around the appendage in her mouth. He couldn't help but laugh; she had been becoming increasingly active over her first few weeks of life, she spent less time sleeping and more time observing the world around her with great, big eyes.

Now dressed for bed, Naruto stretched out on the bed next to his daughter, who continued to hold the strangely contorted position as she followed him with her eyes. Smiling, he stuck his finger in her mouth and rubbed her gums, which she gladly took in replace of her toe.

"You'll be getting your fangs in a few months...I really don't want to have to explain that. It's lucky that your cute little claws are barely developed otherwise we'd have too many unwanted questions. Daddy will just have to work harder to get that money."

He removed his wet finger from her mouth and tickled her belly; she squirmed, smiling wider yet, taking delight in just hearing his voice so often.

"But we don't have to worry about that just yet. We have a good thing going for us right now. We'll be all right, baby," He said reassuringly, patting her head gently, "We'll be all right."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Wow, I don't know if it's just me, but this fic seems to have taken a HUGE leap in popularity. It's like the baby boom! Hahahaha-snerk-hahaha...

Yeah, that made no sense.

Hmm, a lot of people seemed to be under the impression that I was going to have a major timeskip. It was probably my allusion to the first few chapters being a prologue. All I meant by that was that the real story (i.e. Naruto raising baby, growing up, kicking ass) would begin. Whoops, sry!

If anyone has questions about the specialized shadow clone, just pm me and I'll explain it better. It's going to be rather important later on.

And thank **strider714** for making that whole bit somewhat understand able. Too many paragraphs, I tell you! More dialogue I say!

Thank you all SO much for the fantastic feedback

R&R :)

P.S. It's Naru-chan's BIRFDAY! Horrah! I maded him a present! sketchlerette(dot)deviantart(dot)com/art/Naruto-Birthday-Hump-Train-100338798


	7. Such is the Life of an Old Man

**Chapter 7**

"You know, fuzzy nuts, I have a hard time as it is getting enough sleep without having to see your ugly mug."

Honesty, Naruto finally had gotten Hitomi to settle down for the night only to find himself drawn into the sewer of his mindscape the second he laid down.

The Kyuubi bared its teeth at the rudeness directed at it.

"**Silence, brat. I simply wanted to know the development of our kit. I can only sense her power growth from within this despicable seal, as well as your own pathetic progress."**

"She seems like a pretty normal baby," Naruto shrugged, not fazed in the least by the monster's grumpy demeanor, "aside from the claws and whiskers; but everyone at the lodge just assumes they're weird, genetic birthmarks...though I've been meaning to talk to you about that. Is she going to be doing anything weird that I need to look out for? I mean, something that human babies wouldn't do."

"**I am not familiar with human infant behavior—I was more inclined to eat them...or rather, pick the meat between my teeth with them. Twiggy little things..."**

"Delightful," Naruto deadpanned with a slight grimace.

"**The kit will have a habit of clawing and chewing on whatever she can get once the calcium begins to settle in her bones and when her teeth and claws are fully developed. That much I can guarantee."**

"So I should get her a scratching post?" Naruto asked dryly, to which the Kyuubi ignored.

"**She should also begin climbing and jumping after about eight full moons."**

"...you've got to be kidding me."

Sharp, red eyes narrowed, **"I do not '**_**kid'**_**. This brings me to the second matter for which I have summoned you here: it is your attitude. This fear you continue to harbor that is reflecting in your stature. You carry demon blood in you; fear is not something you should be feeling, much less allowing to be seen through your appearance and actions! Even the humans you surround yourself with can sense your fear! It is disgusting!"**

Naruto flushed red in embarrassment and anger, "Well I'm not just a demon, I'm a human too! And in case you haven't noticed Hitomi's mother was shredded by those bastards looking for _me_. So was Jiraiya, so was Asuma! I seem to bring death wherever I go!"

"**Then you become powerful enough to protect those under your care!"**

"That's what I've been doing!" he yelled back, over the Kyuubi's loud tone, "I've been training—!"

"**It's not just about the training, whelp. You've become timid and weak in your insecurities. You need to get over the failures that plague your mind before you have another casualty at your hands!"**

"I'm doing the best I can!" Naruto snapped.

"_**Your best will never be good enough!"**_the beast roared back, effectively silencing the blonde, **"How long do you honestly think you can maintain this façade? You cannot hide until you are ready; you must be ready before you are found out. Can your miniscule brain comprehend what I am telling you?"**

"Are you suggesting that I go hunt down the Akatsuki?" Naruto scoffed, "because I can't go get myself killed and leave Konoha to the mercy of those bastards. And I sure as hell ain't leaving Hitomi to fend for herself!"

"**Of course not you asinine whelp,"** the Kyuubi snarled in response, **"you lack the power to hold your own against even one of them, and I for one am not going to let my existence be extinguished because of the stupidities of a half-breed."**

Naruto felt a headache coming on, "Must you insult me in every sentence?"

"**I must."**

He glared at the demon.

"Then what the hell is your damn point?" he growled testily. The demon seemed indifferent to his tone.

"**My point is, you must become more powerful, **_**faster**_**. Stop pussyfooting around those damn humans out there and train! Your self-inflicted insecurities are holding you back from going all out and it's making my fur stand on end!"**

"I KNOW! I know!" Naruto ran a hand through his hair and began pacing, "But I can't help but remember all those memories from my clone when Kisame destroyed it—I—I can't deal with that again! Not with Hitomi!"

"**At the rate you're going you will get her killed! If you use my power—"**

"No."

"**You need it—"**

"No."

"**Without it you will lose everything you hold dear—"**

"NO! Kyuubi, no! I have enough of my own power, it's all I need! I can do this, okay? I can!"

Kyuubi snorted in frustration. **"You better do something; I will not have my kit meet the same fate as her forbearer."**

"Nothing will happen to her," Naruto declared, with eyes as hard as steel, "_Nothing_."

The piercing cries of Hitomi, accompanied by the rank smell emitting from her crib, pulled Naruto from the prison and back into reality. He groaned, catching sight of the clock that said it was nearly three a.m., and rolled out of bed.

"Alright, alright, baby, I'm coming," he soothed her, hurryingly pulling her from the crib so that she wouldn't end up waking Juhi. He laid her wailing body down on the changing table and unstrapped her diaper, the smell tripling as it unrolled.

He reached for the baby wipes and heaved a weary sigh. The Kyuubi was right, as much as he loathed admitting it; while his progress was exceptionally fast compared to most shinobi due to secret of his shadow clones, it wasn't fast enough—not for him at any rate. He couldn't afford to think in terms of normal. He had the world's most dangerous organization looking for him. He had a daughter to raise and protect as well as an entire village to look after from the shadows. He wasn't ordinary, he was _extra_ordinary, and therefore had to have extraordinary power. He no longer could aspire to be more powerful than his father. He had to be better, faster, and stronger than any of his previous aspirations.

While looking down at the babe kicking at the fresh diaper he was trying to put on her he knew that he _would_ be. Anything less was unacceptable.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

That boy would be the death of her.

Sightings of a young, blond man wearing an orange jumpsuit around Earth Country had been reported nearly a week ago and the council was still all over Tsunade's ass for it. As expected, they were furious that she had sent Naruto out on such a dangerous mission while the Akatsuki were after him. The chances of the Kyuubi falling into their hands were that much more likely without him in the safety of Konoha, where they could keep an eye on him. In addition to that, he was sent away after the Akatsuki actually directed an attack on Konoha—his power was needed in the village, not off on some rogue mission that no one could know about.

Tsunade had to assure them that, while she couldn't divulge the details, the mission called for Naruto becoming more powerful so that he could destroy the Akatsuki.

Or, at least, she hoped that was what he was doing. Unsurprisingly, it had done little to placate the council; Tsunade had just got done trying to convince Homura that it was impossible to recall the mission because she had no way of contacting the boy.

It was for this reason that her sake bottle had a permanent place on the corner of her desk, where she could access it at all times—to hell with appearances.

A pulse of chakra alerted her of someone's arrival and it was the only warning she had before the carpeted ground of her office rippled and the head of a grey toad popped out.

"Message for Tsunade-sama," it croaked and for a moment Tsunade's heart fluttered at seeing one of Jiraiya's messenger toads.

Its mouth opened and the long tongue unfurled to present a simple envelope. She snatched it away and in her irrationality she didn't notice the toad head sink back into the floor.

The writing told her right off the bat that it wasn't Jiraiya—_of course it wasn't_, she scolded herself, _he was dead_—but instead from Naruto. Her excitement picked up again at receiving word from the other toad summoner and she wasted no time in tearing open the letter.

_Hey Baa-chan,_

_I'm sorry for running out on you like that but, as you can understand, it was a desperate situation I was facing. I figured now was as good a time as any to let you know that I'm not dead and neither is Hitomi. I can't tell you where we are but I can tell you that we have a nice place to stay and we're doing well for ourselves. Hitomi seems to be pretty popular in this village and loves the attention. She's four weeks now and her last checkup said that she gained nearly two pounds already, that's good right? She's a pretty hungry baby and pretty vocal. I have no idea what she's saying but if she's not sleeping she's making some kind of noise (sound familiar?), no laughing yet but lots of smiles :). Also, lately she's been sucking on her toe—is that normal?!_

_I don't know why I'm asking so many questions, since you can't exactly answer them._

_Anyway, that's the update on Hitomi right now. I won't say it's easy, in fact it's downright exhausting, but despite everything that's hanging over my head right now I'm happy. I can't help but smile every time I look at her. I contacted Fukasaku just before I sent this message and explained everything to him. He said that its fine and that he would help in any way he could—right now he's working on collecting some sage theory scrolls that can transfer out of Myobokuzan for me to study. Ugh._

_I'll try to get stronger faster so that I can come back to Konoha and you can see Hitomi for real. Until then, there's a picture in the envelope that the woman who runs the place we're staying at took (she has some obsession with taking pictures ever since all her kids moved out and left her all alone, I think it's weird)._

_I'll send you an update later on in the year._

_Take care,_

_Naruto_

With trembling hands, she over turned the envelope and a rectangular photo dropped out. It was the classic picture of the napping father and baby. Naruto was sleeping on a firm looking bed with one arm hanging over the edge and the other resting on the back of a cute, little infant in yellow footie pajamas. The baby was sleeping, stomach to stomach, on her father, looking as soft and vulnerable as any infant should but completely protected by Naruto's presence. Unfortunately, not much could be discerned from the background, just a wooden wall and half a crib were visible, but it didn't do anything to impair the emotions Tsunade felt from seeing the heartwarming photo.

She pressed her fingers to her lips and blinked back tears, unable to quite fathom why she was so touched by the letter and picture. Perhaps it was a grandmotherly reaction to seeing the young boy she cared for so much have to grow up, or for the knowledge that he was alright, or maybe it was just to see how happy he is and how beautiful her surrogate granddaughter was. She felt relief and longing, wishing she could see him and the baby in person, wishing she could take this burden from him, but at the same time happy that he was managing this just as he swore he would.

A knock shocked her out of her stupor and she scrambled to put the letter and picture in her desk drawer before granting her visitor entrance.

"Good morning Tsunade-sama," her pink haired apprentice greeted as she waltzed into the room with a stack of reports in her hand, "Shizune-sempai isn't feeling well this morning so she asked me to bring you these."

The pig-tailed woman groaned at the thought of more work, her happiness at hearing from Naruto overshadowed by her duties.

"Alright, alright, drop 'em here," she grumbled, pointing to an empty spot on her desk and pouring herself a cup of sake. Sakura frowned at her blatant unprofessionalism but did as she was told.

"Oh sensei, did you get a letter?"

Tsunade choked on her drink at the abrupt question.

"W-what makes you say that?" she asked, composing herself a little too late. Dear God, was her student psychic? It was bad enough that Shizune always seemed to know when she was planning on skiving off work or where she hid her sake, but would Sakura join her in her uncanny omniscience as well? Would there be no respite for her from the endless duties of a Hokage?

Sakura raised an eyebrow at the peculiar behavior and pointed to the remains of the envelope that Naruto's letter and picture came in. Tsunade resisted the urge to slap herself; some Hokage she was. After considering all the excuses she could come up with after behaving so oddly about a letter, she decided on the truth...or part of it, at least.

"Well Sakura," she said, folding her hands in front of her face and leaning on her elbows, "that was an update from Naruto. You'll be happy to hear that so far his mission is successful and he's doing well."

'_As well as can be,' _she added silently to herself.

"I-it's from Naruto?" Sakura gasped, excitement and curiosity were shining in her eyes, "What did it say? Can I read it?"

Tsunade desperately wished that she could have someone to confide in; she felt the need to show that picture off to as many people as she could and brag about how cute Hitomi was. Alas, Naruto's situation was far too delicate to give in to these grandmotherly urges.

"Unfortunately, Sakura, I can't let you read it. It reveals details of his mission that can't be privy to anyone but me and him. I'm sorry."

She felt bad as she watched her apprentice's shoulders slump in defeat; the girl seemed so lonely without Naruto around, much more so than the first time he left. Perhaps it was because they were no longer connected by the same goal of getting back their rogue teammate. Now they were living completely separate lives in separate villages with no communication and it was wearing on the young woman.

"Oh," Sakura mumbled, turning to exit the office, "well at least he's alright. You'll tell me if you hear from him again, right? Just to let me know he's okay?"

"Of course," Tsunade smiled.

Sakura closed the door behind her and trudged down the familiar halls of the administration building. She lost count of the number of times she tried squeeze some information about Naruto's whereabouts from Tsunade-sama. Naruto's indefinite absence, as well as the disturbing events surrounding it, had left a bad taste in her mouth. How could her master expect her to accept random letters as confirmation that Naruto was still alive? How could she expect her to stomach the thought of Naruto out in the world alone with the Akatsuki after him? They already had Sasuke under their wing; she couldn't allow them to get Naruto as well.

But the sad truth was that there was nothing she could do about it at the moment. Leaving the village was not an option because she had no idea where he was and snooping around for information seemed useless since the mission was so heavily classified. Tsunade had called a meeting with those who were closest to Naruto and stressed that under no circumstances were they to pry into anything concerning the mission as it was related to Akatsuki and any information uncovered about it could put Naruto in jeopardy. Even Shikamaru grudgingly accepted the order to not snoop, claiming that it was too troublesome anyway, even if his unbridled curiosity was obvious. Slowly, little by little, Naruto's friends were able to continue on with their lives, accepting that Naruto was simply on a dangerous mission and wouldn't be back for a long time, though he continued to plague even the smallest part of their subconscious.

It was far harder for Sakura to accept it as the other's had; the blonde had become one of the most important figures in her life, a constant that she could always trust to support her. His abrupt leave had left her clutching at air for a while; there were times when she could almost sense a phantom presence, something that her mind created in a desperate attempt to comfort her. The sad truth of it was that all Sakura could really do was sit back and wait for Naruto to return, never knowing if the Akatsuki had gotten him yet or not.

She knew that these would probably be the most stressful years of her life.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Four-twenty-three...four-twenty-four...four-twenty-five...four-twenty-six..."

Spatters of sweat dotted the dried leaves that layered the forest floor as Naruto counted off his up-side-down crunches while hanging off the tree branch. In his flipped vision was the sight of his fifty replicas all working on their wind manipulation.

"Haaaaaa!" one Naruto cried with his palms facing the trunk of a tree. The bark splintered and split, the invisible force of sharp chakra pulsating out of his palms and driving deeper and deeper into the tree until the trunk looked as though it had a few ax-chops into it.

"I did it, I did it!" the clone cried, jumping up and down and drawing the attention its fellow trainees. The other Narutos began to gather around it.

"You only made it halfway through," one of them pointed out. The first Naruto scoffed.

"Please. I've made the most progress on this compared to any of you," he grabbed the small, fallen branch that the second clone was working on, "Watch this."

He gripped the branch with both his hands and focused his chakra into the usual sharpening motion. The branch in his hands broke into three separate pieces almost immediately, shooting stray splinters of wood at his identical audience.

"Oh yeah," yelled the second Naruto, who clearly did not like being shown up, "Well watch this!"

And he took one of the shards of wood from the former branch and stabbed the upstart through the chest.

"...five-thirty-eight...five-thirty—gah!"

The sudden rush of progress that that particular clone had made caused Naruto to slip from his routine and fall ten feet from the branch he was working out on. He moaned and rubbed his head for two different reasons; both the throbbing pain of his crown and the ache of his mind trying to process all the new information that five hours of wind manipulating had brought him.

"You guys!" he snapped, hearing a few of them snickering at his misfortune, "Stop bragging to each other and get back to work. We gotta get 'Akatsuki-ass-kicking' powerful and we don't have time to waste!"

"Right!" they all called back and returned to focusing on their respective exercises.

Brushing off the leaves that stuck to his sweaty body, he picked himself up and headed over to inspect the damage inflicted on the tree. The damage was impressive if one knew that it wasn't caused by an ax. If he didn't have the know-how in his head at that moment, he would have never believed that he had managed to slice through the trunk of a tree without using a weapon. Wind chakra was truly a dangerous element when mastered—it was no wonder it was so rare.

He wiped his brow and glared up at the sun that burned down through the sparse cover of leaves. It was nearing three, he really should get back to the lodge and check up on Hitomi, but he knew he had to stop being so lax about his training. Until now he put caring for Hitomi as his top priority while his goal to get stronger went on the back burner. Of course, Hitomi still came first, but after the tongue lashing from Kyuubi he really started to up the ante with his training progress.

For the last month he had been leaving a specialized shadow clone at the lodge with Hitomi and Juhi (and in doing so put forth a greater effort of faith than he felt comfortable with) while he traveled to the heart of the forest and trained like no other. He still couldn't get over the progress he could make with the use of the shadow clones; getting days or weeks worth of training done in one day was a priceless advantage. It often made him wonder how things could have been different if he had figured out the secret to the shadow clone the night he learned it, rather than having to hear it from someone else after years of using it.

If he had been training like this from the beginning of his shinobi career maybe Haku wouldn't have died, maybe he could have stopped Orochimaru from marking Sasuke, or at least he could have stopped Sasuke from defecting, maybe the Sandaime would still be alive, or Jiraiya, or Kensha...

But he was beginning to learn the wishing did nothing, dreaming about the past got him nowhere, and the only thing he could do was to make up for it in the future. So he trained during the day, bartended during the evening, and studied the fuuinjutsu scrolls left by Jiraiya during the night, all while trying to be the best father he could possibly be to Hitomi.

He couldn't be more grateful that he had the ability to be in more than one place at the same time; it was the only thing that made his new way of life possible.

"Alright," he called out, clapping his hands for attention, "time to dispel!"

"Okay!" he heard before the small clearing was filled with smoke. He steadied himself against a tree as the air cleared, rubbing the side of his head to ease the headache forming behind his eyes. After about a minute of collecting himself he straightened and smiled, eyeing the damaged tree with retained giddiness.

He confidently walked to the deep cut made in the bark and placed his hands against it.

"Ha!" he grunted as he focused razor-sharp chakra towards his palms much like his clone had. A loud crack echoed between the standing trees as the trunk was cut cleanly the rest of the way in half. Naruto stepped to the side as the massive plant fell forwards, branches catching the trees around it as it descended, littering the forest with bark, sticks and leaves. It was a good thing he was so deep into the forest, for that surely would have drawn attention from the village otherwise.

Naruto took a deep, refreshing breath, hopping up on the downed tree and smiling to the point of manic. Disguising himself as a civilian meant not carrying any weapons. Sure, as a seasoned ninja it wouldn't be too hard to conceal them, even when dressed as a civilian, but there was always the risk of running into another ninja who would recognize his armed state. To have his own hands as weapons was almost as valuable as his shadow clones for this situation.

Scratching the side of his sweaty neck, Naruto turned his attention back to the tree he was standing on. There really was no sense in wasting an entire tree…this would be good practice to bring more firewood to the lodge.

And so he set about using his newfound wind chakra skills to slice an entire tree into logs.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"How is it that one boy can just disappear off the face of the Earth?" A monotonous but clearly agitated voice rebounded around the stone walls of an underground chamber. A number of the members gathered shifted uncomfortably as the masked Uchiha paced before them in barely concealed frustration.

"I'll tell you how;" he continued in the same, cryptic voice, "he can't. _Find him_."

"Madara-sama," Zetsu murmured, piercing yellow eyes showing little shame in his failures, "every lead I've caught wind of has led to a dead end. It's like he keeps moving around from one side of the continent to the other; I've never seen a pattern like it before. No one in Konoha even speaks about it. The only information I am sure of is that the boy is not there."

"I don't care where he is not; I want to know where he _is_."

"He was _your_ teammate wasn't he?" Konan pointed at the only other Uchiha left, who sat comfortably in a cushioned chair with his legs crossed, "you must have some idea how his mind works."

"I have no idea where the idiot is," Sasuke muttered snidely, "he is not my concern right now. I have my own agenda to follow than spend my time worrying over him."

"Fool," Pein muttered, loud enough to catch the attention of team Hawk. Karin looked absolutely scandalized that anyone would speak about Sasuke in such a way.

Sasuke's eyes flashed and killing intent radiated towards the offender, enhanced by the advanced bloodline limit. It was futile as Pein's kekkai genkai was stronger than the Sharingan would ever be. Without waiting for the violate boy to settle down, the studded man continued.

"Don't brush that boy off so lightly. He killed Kisame remember? It seems that he thrives off of being underestimated. If you keep making the same mistakes, eventually he will be the one to undo this organization."

"Fuck yeah, he killed Kisame-sempai," Suigetsu piped up, gripping the handle of Zabuza's old sword as he bared oddly sharpened teeth, "_I_ was supposed to be the one to defeat him. Not to mention the little shit broke Samehada...I'll fucking kill him if one of you fuckers don't."

"Suigetsu," Jugo cut in somewhat sharply, "be more respectful."

"Keh," the fish-like boy snorted and turned away with a scowl to stew over his lost opportunity to gain another sword.

"Hmm, and he destroyed the body..." the white side of Zetsu's face started only for the black side to finish with the complaint: "We missed out on a good meal!"

"Hawk," Madara spoke up once again, not wanting to hear any more grumbling from his subordinates, "Have you made any progress on retrieving the Hachibi?"

"We were following rumors of an eight-tailed demon over in Cloud when you summoned us here," Sasuke replied.

"Then hurry up and fetch it. The sooner we get that bijuu, the sooner we can put all our effort into finding the Kyuubi. Then, and only then, can our goals fall within our reach."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Hatake Kakashi sat on a worn padded seat, his feet planted firmly into the floor and his elbows resting on the countertop listlessly. The sounds of pots and pans clanking and the aroma of salty broth were his only other companions aside from the over-read book held open in his hand.

He could still remember the day when he returned from the A-rank mission Tsunade sent him on soon after their failed attempt at retrieving Sasuke. He was tired, dirty and wanted nothing more than to return to his apartment so he could fall asleep reading his book; thoughts of checking in to see how Naruto was holding up were pushed aside in favor of recuperation. After all, he was sure Sakura wouldn't have let him wallow in his apartment for too long and Shikamaru was supposed to be keeping him busy working on anything pertaining to the cracked code.

It was to his great surprise to find that very few people had seen Naruto for a couple weeks, only brief appearances of him on the training grounds, grocery store, and, on occasion, the hospital were mentioned. When confronting Sakura about this she guiltily admitted that she had been mad at Naruto, thinking that he had been purposefully avoiding her if other people had seen him outside of his apartment while she hadn't. The pair had made plans on taking Naruto out to dinner that day; they were going to show up at his apartment and drag him out for a nice night whether he wanted to or not. Unfortunately, those plans never came to pass.

Amegakure had attacked that evening, sending both Chuunin and Jounin into the fray of protecting their village. Soon enough Kakashi was catching snippets of orange, alerting him that Naruto had arrived on scene. Little did he know, those brief glimpses of his former student fighting were the last time Kakashi would be seeing Naruto in a long time.

At first he wasn't concerned about not seeing either of his students in the aftermath of the battle; they were both extremely capable shinobi and were undoubtedly alive. He assumed that Sakura was in the hospital and Naruto, like he had been, was helping clear out bodies in the rubble somewhere.

Four hours later he was alerted to Naruto's apartment catching on fire. He arrived on the scene, along with several other Jounin and ANBU, to find obvious signs of a battle in what was left of the wreckage. Then they found Hoshigaki Kisame's body, and Kakashi was in the Godaime's office faster than he could say 'Icha Icha'.

The Hokage was in the middle of scribbling out a mission release form when he arrived: Naruto's name was clearly printed on the top. He was granted a brief overview of Naruto's new mission to calm his frazzled nerves—the scare of seeing the carcass of an S-class missing-nin—one belonging to Akatsuki, no less—was nearly enough to turn his hair from silver to white. While he was relieved in finding that his student was alive (for now), he couldn't help but voice his many concerns over the sketchy contents of the mission. Tsunade-sama was evasive in her answers, stressing over and over again that it was imperative that he not tamper with anything regarding the mission—it was for Naruto's own safety that everything about his new mission remain hush-hush

He trusted the Godaime and respected her command not to look into things. But his well trained ears couldn't help but pick up the uncertainty whenever she spoke of his former student. Naruto wasn't as safe as she was trying to make it appear, and it left him feeling high-strung against his otherwise unruffled character. There was obviously something big that he was being left out of, and for the first time since he became a ninja, he wasn't comfortable with following higher orders.

A waver of light washed over him as one of the entry flaps was momentarily shifted aside, allowing a new body to enter into the small establishment and seat itself on the stool directly to the right of him. The elite Jounin briefly swiveled his exposed eye away from the faded pages of Icha Icha Tactics to see that Umino Iruka would be joining him for lunch.

"Ah, Iruka-kun," he greeted, returning his gaze to his book, "I didn't know you still ate here."

"Hm," the brunette hummed in the affirmative, throwing out an order to Ayame for a large pork ramen, "I can't seem to stop myself from coming here, even without the preferred company."

Kakashi ignored the lighthearted jab and smiled behind his mask, "Thinking about our favorite knucklehead?"

"Yes," Iruka admitted without hesitation, "This mission he went on is so strange. No one is talking about it, and no one knows anything about it. I don't even think Hokage-sama knows everything."

Ayame quietly placed a bowl in front of each man, not wanting to disturb their conversation, finding it to her interest. The bright blonde had been gone for couple months now and it seemed to be bringing everyone's spirits down around her father's stand. It was as if no one could eat there without thinking about him.

Kakashi thanked her for the food but made no move to begin eating, "From what I had gathered, Naruto somehow managed to force her hand in to making this mission official."

Iruka chuckled, but it was forced in his concern.

"Sounds like something he'd do...although I can't help but worry. He has a knack for getting himself in situations that are..."

"Over his head?" Kakashi supplied helpfully. Iruka nodded, twirling the noodles on his pair of chopsticks.

"That's a good way to put it, yeah."

The Chuunin glanced to his left and was shocked to see the entire contents of Kakashi's bowl were missing.

"H-hey...how did you...?"

"Well, it was nice chatting with you again Iruka-kun," Kakashi cut him off, pretending to be unaware of the poor teacher's bafflement, "I'll see you later."

The Jounin slithered out of the tiny stall as Iruka continued to stare at the empty ceramic bowl. There weren't even any droplets of broth left—it was like masked-man had licked it clean! But how? He had only looked away for a second...

It was only when a slip of white paper was slid in front of his nose by a bashful Ayame that he realized he was left with the bill for both their bowls.

"Son of a—Kakashi! Get back here and pay for your own meal!"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

The steady thumping of a hammer against wood had managed to lull Naruto into an easy trance as he methodically pounded on one of the nails connecting the new mailbox onto its post. The old one was worn and weather beaten and, using the skills he picked up from working at the lumber factory, Naruto decided to craft a new one for the lodge. He was always looking for extra little jobs to do for Juhi, trying to convince himself that he was earning his keep.

At the moment Hitomi was down for a nap in their room, where a shadow clone was reading up on intermediate sealing rituals. He had spent most of his day training in the forest—up until a couple hours ago anyway—when he returned to the lodge to help Juhi around the bar.

It was just passing into December and, as it was in the southern part of Fire Country, the air was just starting to get a bit nippy. Goosebumps had risen along the bare skin of his arms as he worked in a short-sleeved T-shirt, but he didn't pay it any mind. His body may have been responding to the temperature, but his mind had yet to acknowledge that he was cold. He was nearly done with the mailbox anyway.

"Yo, kid!"

Naruto knew before he even looked up that the call was directed at him; there was no one else that could have been called a 'kid' within the immediate neighborhood other than himself. He left his tools on the ground and stood from his crouch, turning his body to face his new company.

It was a group of five kids—two girls, three boys—who stood several yards down the street from where the lodge's mailbox was. Each looked to be in their late teens, just slightly older than he was.

A boy stood somewhat ahead of the group, indicating that he had been the one to command attention. He looked tall for his age, perhaps even slightly overweight, with dark brown hair and eyes to match. But his features were what would be considered attractive and he had a bit of a beard growing in around the line of his jaw just to give off a rugged appeal.

"I'm Yasei, Kogaku Yasei," the young man introduced himself, continuing to draw closer, "and these guys are Hige, Isamu, Mao and Ren."

He made no gestures with his hands other than a short wave behind him, so Naruto had no idea who was who.

"Naruto," the blonde replied in the like, bending back down to collect his tools and giving the group an acknowledging nod.

Yasei—who seemed to be the leader of the posse—continued to do all the talking.

"We've seen you around town for a while now, but never at any of the cool hangouts. Maybe you don't know anyone yet...I don't know...but we thought you might like to hang out with us tonight. We can introduce you to the rest of the gang; teach you who not to get mixed up with, which girls are off limits and which ones are available...you know, the works. Thursday nights we usually hang out at Reigogoku."

Naruto knew of this bar: neon lighting, loud music, and reputation for a lax policy on under-aged drinking. It was practically a club and located on the other side of town.

Yasei carried on, either ignoring or unaware of his audience's face of disinterest, "You can meet us at the entrance at eleven, that's when the real pack shows up."

"Yeah? What's wrong with this bar?" Naruto asked, finding the whole conversation somewhat bizarre. He hadn't been asked to hang out with anyone like this since his training trip with Jiraiya, and that seemed a lifetime ago.

Yasei looked nearly offended at the very suggestion.

"Are you kidding me? This place is for older folks. Damn, you really _are_ new around here..."

Personally, Naruto wouldn't consider himself new to town anymore, although, he did admittedly spend most of his time around the older crowd. Perhaps being a parent left him seeking kinship in people who he could relate to. Aside from Juhi and some regulars at the bar, he hadn't really been all that sociable; he was far too focused on training and keeping up-to-date with his traveling specialized shadow clones to even consider making new friends.

The covert ninja had to fight down a smirk at the irony of it all. For nearly his whole childhood he would have loved to be invited to hang out with other kids. Now, it was the last thing on his mind.

"Thanks, but no thanks," he declined, giving no reasoning behind his refusal. Yasei appeared to be confused for a moment, as though he didn't understand the answer he was given, and threw a backward look to his friends—all of whom were equally taken aback.

"You got something better you could be doing?" the brunette asked with a small frown.

"Yeah," Naruto responded, "I could be sleeping."

He didn't realize until just after he said it that the short response could have come off as sardonic. Fortunately Yasei had not taken it as such.

"You're an old man, ya know that?" Yasei laughed. It wasn't particularly cruel or mocking, but Naruto could tell by his posture that the older youth wasn't used to being turned down. "You're too young to be hitting the sack by eleven!"

A couple of his friends joined in his laughter.

"I work until ten, and I'm usually pretty exhausted by then," Naruto answered truthfully, glad that his quick response hadn't unintentionally insulted anyone.

"I work too," Yasei argued, not having any of it, "but I give my social life precedence. Come on, this the time to enjoy your youth! Don't waste it sleeping!"

"I think I've used up all my youth," Naruto said cryptically in the most light hearted voice he could manage. A brief glance at the sun-touched horizon told him that it was nearly six. "Anyway, I've got to go. My shift starts now. Thanks for the offer anyway."

Naruto parted with half a smile and a kind wave. The second his back was turned the smile morphed into a grimace; he was _really_ out of touch with his own age group if he could hardly hold a conversation with them. That was pretty pathetic.

"Tch. You'll come around soon enough—once you realize how sad and boring your life is!" Yasei called to the retreating form. He watched the kid trot back into the warm atmosphere of old Juhi's tavern. Once the blonde boy was out of sight his face quickly dropped from cool annoyance to complete bafflement.

"Could have gone better," one of his friends piped up, looking torn between amusement and disappointment. She had just broken up with her boyfriend not too long ago and the blonde looked like good rebound material. What a wasted opportunity to work her stuff...

The shortest of the males, Ren, seemed to know exactly what was running through Isamu's head and he rolled his eyes. "Well, there's always next week ya know..."

"Nah, Yasei had the right idea. Make him come to us," Hige, the bespectacled one of their party asserted.

The only other girl present flicked a lock of green hair over her shoulder and nodded to their leader, "What do you think, Yasei?"

Yasei turned around to his friends, not even acknowledging Mao's question, with the same bemused expression on his face, unable to get over one detail of that conversation.

"_Eleven O'clock?!_ Honestly!"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

So we see some Akatsuki, we see some Konoha and we see some training. Whoopee.

Thank **strider714** for editing. He's going swing dancing tonight! Wish him luck :)

...though he won't be too happy with me for posting that last bit since he didn't edit it...I am _so_ bad XD

Don't worry; I'm not going to harass you with a bunch of OCs. Most OCs are for the sake of the OV (original village...tee hee) and will be—at best—tertiary characters...that less than secondary! Buuuurn.

**Fun story for those who care:**

My fam took in a kitten from a barn. We thought it was a girl. Then it went to the vet, where the majority of vets there thought it was a boy, and a few others still thought it was a girl. They have begun placing bets on its gender...no lie. (we have crazy pets, so the vets know us well)

In the end we were told that it was too young to tell properly, (only a couple weeks) and the most likely situation was that we took in a hermaphrodite cat. Apparently they are quite common.

It can fit in the palm of my hand, it's so tiny. So I have been pushing for the name Behemoth. That's Bobo for short.

Why are you still reading this nonsense when you could be reviewing? There'll be lots of Hitomi next chap!


	8. Food for Thought

**Chapter 8**

"Juhi! Juhi, come here! She laughed!" Naruto called out, kneeling beside his daughter. The fourteen-week-old baby was laying on her back on a spread out blanket before the empty fireplace, surrounded by stuffies and toys. Naruto had simply been playing with her while Juhi bustled about the kitchen preparing some lunch when Hitomi let out an unmistakable giggle.

"She did?" Juhi asked, immediately coming out of the kitchen. Naruto was seated next to the baby with a little cat plushy that had a bell attached to its collar.

"Yeah! Watch," he instructed and jingled the toy in front of the girl's face again. "Comm'on now, baby, laugh for daddy."

As predicted, Hitomi squealed and giggled; her gummy mouth parting as the delightful sound of a child's laughter filled the room.

"Oh that's just precious!" Juhi exclaimed, hurrying over to the little girl who she grew to love as a granddaughter. She began tickling the baby's belly through her little pink shirt, "Come on; give your Juhi-oooba a nice big laugh!"

Hitomi did so, kicking her legs in delight as she discovered the joys of laughter. A glop of drool dribbled out of her mouth and slid down her chin.

"Aw, Tomi, you're gross," Naruto mock-complained with a wide smile. He took a corner of the blanket they were sharing and used it to wipe her mouth, but some more spit just fell out in its place.

"I suspect she'll begin teething soon if she keeps up all this drooling," Juhi remarked happily, petting the soft cheek with fondness before standing, "Well, come on now, I've got chili."

"Alright!" Naruto cheered, hoisting Hitomi up and carrying her to the kitchen to get a bottle, "You hear that Tomi? We have Juhi's famous chili! But none for you, silly baby—you get formula. Yummy!"

Juhi smiled as she heard Naruto baby-talk to his daughter. He had come such a long way from the tired and frightened boy that stood in her doorway nearly four months ago. It was clear to everyone that met him that he was traumatized, even if he didn't know it himself. He seemed numb to everything around him—prone to staring off into space with shaking hands and, at times, turning rather pale despite his otherwise tan complexion. However, in spite of his disturbed emotional state, he threw himself into his parental duties, making sure to give Hitomi as much love and care as he was able—which was, surprisingly, quite a lot. While other sixteen-year-old boys were chasing after girls, he only seemed to have eyes for Hitomi, brushing off any attempts of flirting done by the few women who hung around the lodge at night. Juhi watched the progress of a slow recovery as every day Naruto was able to laugh and joke a little more, giving her a glimpse of the boy he used to be. It was the baby that was healing him, and he who took care of the baby. They needed each other more than anything else in the world.

She broke out of her thoughts when Naruto sat in front of her before his own meal, Hitomi angled in his arms and sucking happily on the bottle in his hand.

"You all right?" he asked, ignoring his bowl of chili in favor of allowing Hitomi to finish eating first.

"Oh yes," she replied, just then realizing that she had stopped eating her lunch while lost in thought, "I was just thinking about what a great father you make."

She grinned as Naruto flushed a dark red; the boy was liable to some extreme blushing at most compliments he received.

"Juhi..." he mumbled, pulling the empty bottle away from Hitomi's face. Hitomi made only one small moan of protest before being maneuvered to her father's bibbed shoulder. Naruto alternated between patting her back and shoveling chili in to his mouth, "This is awesome Juhi!"

The aged woman smiled kindly, "Thank you, dear. I must say, you seem much more energetic today than usual."

"Eh...it's the chili!"

The truth was it was his lack of specialized shadow clones sucking the energy out of him. Today he wasn't going to train in the forest in favor of getting some quality time in with his daughter. He had run out of scrolls to study so he had sent only one specialized clone on a mission to infiltrate the nin-section of the Fire Temple library and find more advance subjects for him to study. This gave him an excuse to spend the whole day spoiling Hitomi and indulge on some of Juhi's wonderful cooking (the memories of what his clone tasted just weren't doing it for him).

He had yet to realize that he hadn't had ramen since before his last mission in Konoha. His childish cravings for it had all but disappeared in the scramble to hold his life together. The same went for his love of orange. It was still his favorite color, but the thought of wearing it again never crossed his mind. He stuck to plain, simple civilian clothes that wouldn't draw any extra attention to him. It was almost nostalgic, that he had left everything he once depended on behind to start a new life. He tried not to dwell on anything that would make him question his decisions.

"Hello Juhi, Naruto!" a voice called out from the lodge's entrance. The pair turned from their respective meals to see Aomori Oda, the owner of the local grocery store, throw an overcoat on one of the hooks by the door and approach them.

"Hey!" Naruto protested, bouncing Hitomi a little in his arms. Oda laughed heartily at his mistake.

"Hello tiny-Tomi," he amended his greeting, sliding up to Naruto and poking her little, button nose. Hitomi laughed at the contact, shocking him.

"I don't think I've ever heard her laugh before!" he exclaimed. Naruto turned in his chair to better face the grocer.

"That's because she just started today," he stated proudly. Juhi was nodding along side of him, sipping on a mug of coffee. Most people in the elemental countries were avid tea drinkers—it was just in their culture to be so—but not Juhi. The sturdy woman (along with most of the other villagers) was all about the strong, bitter taste of the drink that just seemed to fit in the rugged lumber town of Bassai. Naruto was never much of a tea drinker himself, but coffee had somehow found its way into his diet as he integrated himself into his new home. He discovered that it helped him keep up with Hitomi's wake-cycle; even if tea and coffee were similar in terms of caffeine milligrams, coffee had more of a kick that kept him on high alert.

"So what brings you here today Oda?" Juhi asked, standing from her chair and collecting the empty bowls.

"Well, my son is holding down the store right now and I figured I'd stop by and see what was on the menu today. Don't suppose I could get some of that chili to go, do you Juhi? For me and Taro?"

"Sure thing, Oda," the busty woman replied jovially as she headed into the kitchen, "You just wait here and I'll be back in a jiffy."

The middle-aged man occupied Juhi's old seat across from Naruto.

"So how are you holding up, young man? Juhi working you to the bone?" Oda asked with a small grin.

"Nah, she's been great," Naruto informed him, "she's been having me cut down a bunch of firewood to begin stocking up for the busy season. Apparently that fireplace is going to be lit almost twenty-four seven."

Naruto didn't mention that he never actually _used_ the axe she had been sending him out with.

Oda nodded, recalling how he spent many of his free afternoons reading by the lodge's comforting fire.

"Well it is getting colder; soon tourist season will hit and then we'll all be making money!"

"Yeah," Naruto agreed, "we've already had a couple people stay here for a few days. I suppose there'll be a lot more once winter really hits."

"Of course! Bassai is real popular in the winter, especially the lodge. There'll be people in here from morning to night, you just wait."

Naruto didn't know how he would feel about that on the off chance that someone he knew would stop by. That and he didn't know how Hitomi would take to big crowds. It made him want to earn enough money for his own place even more.

Juhi backed out of the kitchen with two steaming packages in her hands.

"Here you go, Oda," she said while handing the man his and his son's lunches. "You say 'hi' to your boy for me, all right?"

"Will do!" Oda replied with a nod of the head, "Thanks for the chili, Juhi. Bye Naruto, bye Hitomi."

"Bye," Naruto bid him farewell as he watched the man throw on his coat and head back into the windy outdoors.

Hitomi began to squirm uncomfortably in his arms and a new smell hit his nose just as she began to fuss.

"Oh Tomi, you stinky girl!" he called her out playfully, standing from the table. He looked over his shoulder as he headed up the stairs, "Juhi, I'll be in my room."

"Okay," she said absently, looking over the mail he had brought in earlier that morning. Naruto carried Hitomi's wriggling form up the stairs and to her changing table, quickly getting rid of the soiled diaper and wiping and powdering her bottom like he was on auto pilot.

The reminder of Bassai no Sato's busy season had brought forth a new trepidation to the forefront of his mind. It would be more difficult to sneak off and train with tons of people around every day, especially when it came time to switch with the clone that he assigned to take care of Hitomi. Granted, he was a ninja, and deceiving civilians should be child's play, but that didn't stop him from doubting his own abilities—especially when it came to Hitomi's care.

Speaking of which, while his daughter was growing at a healthy rate and looked mostly normal for an infant, it also raised the question as to when she would begin to exhibit abnormal behavior. It wouldn't be long before her teeth came in, and while the Kyuubi said that the fangs were actually the last to emerge, it still left him with only a few months to get Hitomi out of such an exposed environment. Plus, she would begin scratching at things soon; how would he explain claw marks in the furniture to Juhi when they don't have a cat? And what if Juhi saw Hitomi jumping out of her crib or climbing up the curtains?

"Ouch!"

He sharply drew back his hand from where Hitomi had just chomped on it with unreal force. She must have caught his hand while he had been pondering his predicament. Naruto looked at the knuckles that were now smarting red and then to Hitomi's mouth, in which a couple miniscule white bumps could be seen poking up from the center of her bottom gums. So she _was_ teething; Juhi totally called that.

Despite his excitement of Hitomi getting her first tooth, it wouldn't do for her to get in the habit of chewing on people like that. He may not know much about other people's kids, but he did know that human babies could not bite hard enough to bruise.

"Hitomi, _no_," he said in a strong voice, keeping a frown on his face as he brought it close to hers, "You do _not_ bite daddy. _No_. That was bad!"

Being the intelligent child that she was, she seemed to recognize the harshness of his tone as well as the anger in his aura as a bad sign and understood that what she had done wasn't good. After two hiccups as a warning she began crying, fat tears rolling down her cheeks in almost no time—tears that she had just recently begun sporting when she wailed.

Pain shot through his chest like a well aimed kunai; Naruto couldn't stand the fact that he had made her cry and wasn't able to stop himself from scooping her up in his arms and rocking her close to his chest.

"Oh, no, no, no, don't cry baby. Shhhhh...I'm sorry. Daddy's sorry. I don't want you to cry, I just don't want you to bite people. Biting people is bad. People will ask questions. Shhhhh...please don't cry, beautiful...shhhhh..."

His shushing noises and rocking managed to quiet her until she was content enough to just lay her head on his shoulder, enjoying the warmth of his body and the coos of his soothing voice. Naruto bit his lip and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to exude a calming aura and not emit any of the sorrow and guilt that still seemed to cripple his heart.

Was he not supposed to yell at her when he didn't want her to do something? How was he supposed to discipline her without scaring or hurting her? Was there some other method parents used to stop their kids from misbehaviors that he never knew about? It was times like this which callously reminded him that he did not know what he was doing.

"I don't ever want you to cry because of me," he whispered into the short, soft golden hair before kissing her head. "Never."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

A dark, cloaked figure darted across the roofs of Kumogakure, invisible even to the few chuunin stationed around the village on night watch. It flipped over chimneys and pushed off of clotheslines with noiseless dexterity, eventually coming to a stop on the roof of a decrepit hotel—one that was located in the seedier part of the village.

Just a few stories below its perch, a middle aged man could be seen through an undersized window, working diligently on interpreting some intercepted documents. His name was Umeku Kisato, and he had spent the last several years working for the intelligence unit of Cloud's ninja force. He was a clean kept fellow of average height and a bit on the thin side. His hair was chopped and peppered and a pair of oval glasses framed his small, brown eyes.

Though he lived and worked in Kumogakure, he wasn't the most loyal of citizens. In fact, most of his loyalty belonged to his old friend, the late toad hermit Jiraiya. The news of his death had taken the breath right out of him, but, being part of the great man's internal spy network, Kisato knew that what he heard was true. He had spent quite a few years feeding information to other contacts or to Jiraiya-sama himself and, after hearing of the tragic death, the interpreter had thought that his life would go back to being quite dull, spending day after day interpreting mostly useless junk.

Then he received a visit from the most unlikely of people.

Jiraiya-sama's apprentice, Uzumaki Naruto, was waiting for him in his apartment one afternoon after he returned from a short errand. Apparently, Kisato's double life wasn't quite over yet because the boy that he had only been briefly acquainted with two years prior was rebooting the spy network in his master's stead. At first Kisato was skeptical—after all, the boy couldn't have been more than seventeen when he showed up out of the blue, demanding his cooperation. But Naruto had a unique charisma and a rough sort of charm that was akin to Jiraiya-sama's own, and Kisato was filled with nostalgia after just one conversation. It wasn't long before he was willing to help the young man stay informed, particularly about Akatsuki's movements. For the last several weeks, Kisato had been picking up bits and pieces of intelligence that fit together nicely for a solid report.

A breeze ruffled the papers on his desk and he scrambled to keep them all down. Almost positive he had shut his window, he turned away from his work and nearly screamed to find the young man in question sitting on his windowsill.

"Je-esus! Uzumaki-san! Have you ever heard of a door?"

The boy always entered through the window—something he would never understand in ninja—but it seemed no matter how many times it happened, Kisato would never get used to it.

"A what?" Naruto asked in complete sincerity, climbing down from the sill and inviting himself into the roomy apartment.

"A do—," Kisato caught himself and frowned, "that's not funny."

Naruto grinned, "I thought it was. Sorry if I'm a bit earlier than usual. I just spoke with that friend of yours from the southern border—Ossi? Ossu? I think—and he mentioned something about Akatsuki looking for me and the eight tails simultaneously. What happened to me being the last?"

Kisato rubbed the bridge of his nose, knowing all about the recent turn of events that would make life that much more difficult for his young friend.

"It was Osamu," the man corrected, "and I have unfortunate news. Akatsuki has some new members. Or rather...a new partner organization."

"Oh yeah?" Naruto asked lightly, who had long since expected Akatsuki to start replacing the members that kept getting offed by Konoha ninjas, "Know who these newbies are?"

"Yes. Uchiha Sasuke, and his team 'Hawk'."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Naruto looked up sharply from the book on his lap before squeezing his eyes shut; his pupils dilated behind clenched eyelids and he leaned back on the couch with a groan as his mind processed a week's worth of information. His specialized clone that he sent out every other week to check in with a different portion of the spy network and, consequently, draw Akatsuki's attention elsewhere had finished its mission. Needless to say, the results weren't pleasant.

He was afraid of this; that Sasuke would be tempted by the power and influence that being associated with Akatsuki would bring. A part of him was happy that his old friend was alright and wasn't being held captive by Madara (it was with a guilty twinge that he realized he had hardly given Sasuke a second thought over the last few months), but a much larger part of him was simply disappointed. Disappointed and afraid.

He stood up, gently laying the book of meditation (that Fukasaku and—oddly enough—Kyuubi had recommended (bullied) him to start on) on the bedside table and crossing his arms across his chest as a shiver drove up his spine. His feet paced mechanically around his living space as he ran over everything he learned in the last week.

The eight tails was somewhere in Cloud country and currently being hunted down by Hawk, led by his former friend. Itachi had been working for Konoha the whole time—the _whole_ time—and ordered to kill off his own power-hungry clan for the village's sake. That was something he learned from an old woman in Cloud who had known Itachi quite personally many years ago.

Of course this made Naruto one of the few people alive who knew of Itachi's true mission. The elder council of Konoha obviously knew—being the ones who assigned it along with the Third—certain members of the Akatsuki knew—which included Sasuke—and Jiraiya's contact knew...which meant Jiraiya had known as well...

But why the hell hadn't he ever said anything before? All those years of training to protect himself from Itachi and Jiraiya never once let on that Itachi's intentions were anything but evil.

He would tell Tsunade of Sasuke's latest bout of idiocy and warn her of his most likely intents against Konoha, but he would leave out any mention of Itachi for now. What mattered was protecting Konoha, regardless of what its actions in the past were. He couldn't even imagine how Sakura would take the news...

Fuck.

Naruto groaned and rubbed the back of his neck; He felt so disconnected from Konoha at the moment that it made him sick. Since Sasuke was helping the Akatsuki—the organization hell bent on killing him—then bringing him back to Konoha was no longer an option. Naruto would have to fail at keeping a promise in order to keep him and his daughter safe. And keep Konoha safe. His promise to Sakura was one of the few things still keeping him connected to his old home and now it was about to be cut short. A cold feeling of hopelessness filled him for a moment now that the reality that he was even more alone settled in on him.

Everyone, in some way or another, had escaped this new life of his. There was no one he could turn to right now. No Sasuke, no Sakura, no Jiraiya, Baa-chan, Kakashi-sensei...

A crash of thunder erupted from the dark, heavy clouds that overwhelmed the sky outside his window and, almost simultaneously, a flash of lightning illuminated the small room. A few seconds of silence ensued right after before it was broken by the frightened wail of an awakened baby.

Naruto faced the crib, the low lamp lights casting shadows across his face as he hurried over to his crying daughter, wanting to prevent waking anyone else up.

"Hey baby girl," he whispered, gently lifting her from the crib and hugging her to his chest while his knees bounced out of habit. She continued to cry even with him rocking her; her face purpled in the force of her wails. "Comm'on now, shhhh, don't cry..."

Hitomi was generally a very mild mannered baby, not too fussy unless she really wanted something, and for that he was grateful. There were times during her first month of life where she would just cry for the sake of crying for hours on end, leaving him harried and confused as to how to get her to stop. Her crying fits had become less and less frequent since then, but there was still the odd occasion where she would draw out her bawling for no apparent reason. This would seem to be one of those times.

After realizing that she wasn't going to let up anytime soon, Naruto resorted to the one thing he knew would quiet her down...eventually. It started out as a hum; the same, low tune that he had heard many times before was repeated until the words of the song came back to him.

"When I see your smile...tears roll down my face," he sang barely above a whisper into the shell of her soft ear, using no particular tone, "I can't...replace..."

Her crying persisted and he shushed her a few times before continuing, "And now that I'm strong I have figured out...how this world turns cold in that place in my soul, and I know...I'll find...deep inside me, I can be the one..."

Hiccups were becoming more frequent as she took deeper breaths between cries, a sign of calming down. Hopefully she hadn't woken Juhi or any of the other patrons neighboring his room.

"I will never let you fall...I'll stand up with you forever...I'll be there for you through it all...even if saving you sends me to heaven..."

Her tears warmed his neck, each one both a pain and comfort to him.

"It's okay...it's okay..."

Tiny hands fisted against his collar bone and he kissed the top of her head, the silky blonde hair smelling of baby and linen.

"...It's okay..."

By now she was weeping softly, her body giving little jerks as she caught her breath.

"hmmm-mmm...'Cause I'm here for you, please don't walk away...and...please tell me you'll stay..."

His voice, combined with the melody, managed to quiet her until she was left with nothing but small grunts and sniffles. Only then did he feel it safe enough to return to his seat on his bed, holding her body to his chest like a security pillow.

Exhaustion had settled over him like a dead weight and it had nothing to do with calming down his baby.

"God Hitomi...Sometimes I just want to give up and go home," he told her honestly, cradling her soft head with extreme care. She made no response, her eyelids already starting to droop after her short scare was over.

"But I still have you," he held his daughter a little tighter, willing away the feelings of loneliness and isolation that were trying to overtake him again by reminding him of her presence. "You're still here..."

A small grunt sounded from her nose as if she understood what he was saying and was acknowledging him. He would have laughed at her if he wasn't feeling so downhearted.

Why was he feeling so insecure all of a sudden? He had been doing fine before he found out about Sasuke's deepest betrayal. He was getting better and stronger; he thought he was getting the hang of being a father. How could one tidbit of information—no matter how significant—break down everything he had been working on in the last several months?

Since when did he start to depend so much on his friends to help bear life's burdens?

Perhaps it was the sudden, crushing depression he was struck with that evening or the sudden, unrealistic feeling of abandonment that caused it, but a small spark of defiant anger was lit up with in him—something he hadn't felt since he was a child and yet so familiar that it must have been a large part of his persona at one point.

To hell with his promise to Sakura, to hell with Sasuke and to hell with Konoha; he wasn't dependent on any of them, he didn't need them in his life to be happy. He loved them...but he didn't _need_ them. He had always managed to find his own way before, to find his own happiness and nindo, with or without anyone's support, and he would continue to do so. He wasn't just a father or a ninja or a Jinchuuriki, he was also an orphan.

And a damn self-sufficient one at that.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

_Two months later..._

"Yes! A mission outside of Konoha! Whoo-hooo!"

One Sarutobi Konohamaru jumped around the Hokage's office without inhibition or restraint.

"Stop behaving like a buffoon," Ebisu snapped while gently pushing the circular sunglasses up his nose with a finger, "That behavior is completely unprofessional. Especially in front of Hokage-sama!"

"Wow, a C-rank mission!" Moegi gushed in accordance to her teammate. The only gennin of the team who seemed to hear their jounin-sensei's scolding was Udon, whose single reaction to the news was to wipe his nose on his sleeve.

Tsunade smiled from behind her hands at her predecessor's grandson's actions—a smile that held a hint of sadness as she realized how Naruto-like the boy's antics were.

"You are to travel twenty miles south of here to Bassai no Sato and meet your contact, Yamamura Tsuge. He runs the lumber company. Konoha has finally run out of her lumber supply after repairing all the damage from the Amegakure attack and we need to restock. He is paying for a C-rank mission for you to guide the lumber caravans to Konoha. The chances of you meeting any bandits are slim, but Yamamura-san didn't want to take any chances."

"Um, Hokage-sama," sniffled Udon over Konohamaru's loud complaints about not getting to kick anyone's ass, "Why do we need to go to Bassai no Sato when we are surrounded by trees?"

"Bassai no Sato is known for their precise and durable techniques in turning trees into wood, also, they have mastered the ability to get as many strips of lumber out of one tree. It would be much more timely and cost-efficient to do business with them instead of wasting more trees than we need to with amateur abilities. It's very fortunate for us that they are so close," Tsunade explained patiently.

"Oh," was all the young brunette said.

"We're expecting the shipment in by tomorrow, late afternoon. You better get a move on," the Hokage said briskly, moving a new stack of papers to the forefront of her desk.

Ebisu, Moegi and Udon bowed to the Hokage and followed Konohamaru, who had simply turned away, out the door.

"Such impudence," Tsunade sighed, not with annoyance but with nostalgia. She reached down and unlocked the only drawer that had a keyhole, the one meant for the Hokage to keep personal belongings in, and pulled out her favorite picture. It was a bit crinkled and faded at the edges from too much handling, but the touching picture of a sleeping Naruto and his daughter were still evident. Tsunade ran two fingers over the photo, wishing she could touch them for real, to know for certain that they were alright.

There were times when she wished she had never sent Naruto off by himself in such a careless fashion—terrified of the unknown dangers she sent him out into. But Naruto's continuous intel feed from the revived spy-network managed to quell those fears time and time again. Akatsuki had solid plans to attack Konoha head on if Kisame's rouse didn't work. By sending Naruto out of the village and making the knowledge public—that he was on an S-ranked classified mission—caused the Akatsuki to drop those plans (for the moment). Naruto and his daughter's lives were saved with their hasty decision, as well as the well being of Konoha.

She frowned as she thought back to latest contact he sent her; a report on Akatsuki and Uchiha Sasuke's actions.

Not only had Sasuke's team joined forces with Akatsuki, helping the terrorist organization find the last bijuu, but Naruto had also informed her that Sasuke was targeting Konoha's council—Homura, Koharu, and Danzo. That made the boy more than just a nuke-nin; he was now a threat to Konoha.

Breaking the news to Sakura hadn't been easy, especially since Naruto wasn't around to help bear the pain, but at least she had family and friends she could go to after hearing of yet another betrayal by her first love. Naruto was still on his own, separated from his team and home on a whole other level.

She turned her chair around to face the wide window centered behind her desk, taking a moment out of her hectic day to admire the beauty and majesty of Konoha. The sun was centered directly overhead, causing the city buildings to shine golden and the streets to fill with happy, chatting civilians. The entire scene radiated an atmosphere of peace and contentment—a rarity for the typical ninja village. It was one of the few times she felt she could understand why Naruto loved the village so much in spite of all the wrongs he had suffered because of it.

"Please," she whispered, rubbing her thumb over the smooth surface of the picture in her hands, "...please come back soon."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Come on! Come on, silly girl! You're almost there!"

Hitomi laughed gleefully, stiffly placing one hand in front of the other, her knees not far behind.

"Oh—you're almost there! Keep going!" Naruto continued to encourage the baby as she crawled toward him. Soon enough she had traveled enough ground to reach within a foot of where he was kneeling and was quickly drawn into an exaggerated hug.

"Yes! You are wonder-baby! You are such a smart girl, yes you are!" he cooed, tickling her belly and kissing her cheek repeatedly. Hitomi rewarded him with some great, big baby laughs that shook her whole body; it was officially his favorite sound in the world.

"Now all you have to do is start talking. Come on, say "dada"," he encouraged, knowing it was a long shot and nigh impossible at her age of six and a half months.

"Adahdahdahdaha!" she attempted. Of course, this probably made perfect sense to her.

"Eh, close enough," he shrugged, quite used to her babbling by now. He knew she was talking to him, he just wished he could understand her. "You ready to go to the grocery store, big girl? You get to eat solid food now, aren't you excited?"

Again, she babbled something completely unintelligible to him. He interpreted it as: "You're damn right I am".

"Right, well, I should get the real me for this," Naruto said, making a shadow clone by drawing on energy from his original. He turned to the other clone and ordered, "Dispel and let him know what's going on."

The clone nodded once and disappeared. Hitomi cocked her head at the sight of her father multiplying and then disappearing; she was becoming very used to it.

Ten miles into the forest revealed a sweaty and panting Naruto, shirtless and surrounded by three of his clones (having already taken out several before). He blinked at the information he suddenly received and grinned.

"Alright! It's time to finish this," he announced and darted toward the two clones closest to him. One clone slid and made a sweeping kick while the other did a round house, combining attacks with the intent of taking out his head and legs at the same time. At the last second—as to not give the clones enough time to correct themselves—Naruto kicked off and spun horizontally, twisting his body between both offending legs and kicking out to hit one clone in the face and the other in the back, stabbing them with a spark of wind chakra through his bare feet that cut through their bodies, dispelling them.

The style he had been working on as of late was Taido, which he found was a style he liked very much. As opposed to the formal and linear forms of taijutsu that was usually expanded upon once students graduated from the academy, Taido was more flexible, and, as a result, more unpredictable. The techniques involved offered many innovations to standard karate including spinning and twisting movements, gymnastic maneuvers, speedy and effective footwork and a changing body angle (1).

Not only did he find this style to fit his personality, but he almost naturally incorporated it into his parkour movements. Parkour was a study he was most fascinated with. Granted it wasn't a fighting style per se, but he found he could relate to it in a lot of ways, realizing that its freedom with the body and usage of surroundings was much like the little stunts he pulled trying to get away from ANBU after a particularly superb prank. The motions were very similar to a ninja's way of travel, but there was something characterizing about it that just drew him, be it the occasional flip or twist in a motion or the innovation it required from its practitioner.

Naruto landed on his side, using his arm to stop his body from hitting the ground and the momentum to spring back up. He and the last clone circled one another, prowling their opponent. A crisp leaf from above snapped off the branch it was hanging off of and drifted down between them. The instant the leaf hit the forest floor to join its brethren, both identical males sprang forward, engaging in a fierce taijutsu match, parry and blocking, jumping and dodging, throwing in wind chakra to make each point of contact draw blood. It was the final, slicing chop to the obliques when the real Naruto unexpectedly dropped to his knees that took out his last clone.

Panting, Naruto stood, glancing around at the splatters of blood he left all over the forest. He looked down at his body to see several incisors covering his flesh as well as tears and blood stains covering his pants. Whatever personal combat style he was slowly but surely developing was turning out to be annoyingly messy. Grimacing, he made a mental note to wash and fix the pants before Juhi saw them.

The travel back to the lodge took no time at all as Naruto speed through the trees, barefoot and in nothing more than a pair of pants. Whereas before he had spent his life working in more baggy clothes, a sensible way to hide numerous weapons, he was now becoming quite enthralled with the feeling of fighting in so little. Maybe it was the wild, sometimes showy, freelance styles he preferred to fight in, or maybe it was from spending too much time in the woods, using nature as a tool for improvement, but there was just something primal about it that he found exciting. Just one more quirk to add to the ever-growing list of things he would unreasonably blame on the Kyuubi's influence.

Naruto silently slipped through the open window on the second story of the lodge that faced the forest and acknowledged the clone that was sitting on his bed studying a scroll on advanced Taido.

"Agah!" Hitomi cried out from where she was seated on the floor, a stuffed rabbit missing one eye now lay abandoned in favor of crawling towards her father.

"Hi there, beautiful," he greeted her with a laugh. He lifted her from the ground once she had reached him and gave her a big kiss on the cheek. "You be good while daddy takes a shower, alright? And then we'll get your little shoes on and head out shopping, ok?"

"Afoo..."

Chuckling in fondness, he placed her back on the ground and headed towards the bathroom where, of course, Hitomi tried to follow him in. His clone had to abandon its studies in order to hold her and keep her entertained while Naruto quickly washed off the blood and dirt, later changing into a simple pair of green, capri pants and a blue-grey, long-sleeved shirt that had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows (too much of his wrists were beginning to show—he would be in need of some bigger clothes soon).

After dispelling his clone (in which he learned he needed to put less weight on his back leg when starting out in an unsoku stance) he got on his flip-flops, put Hitomi's little booties on her feet and headed out the door, announcing to Juhi that he would be back in an hour at the most.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Gah, this blows," Konohamaru griped, walking down the bustling streets of Bassai with his hands behind his head, "this is such a boring mission. I wish someone would attack us on the way back, at least."

"That is a very stupid thing to wish," Ebisu scolded from beside him, "if you're that bored you can help load the caravans with lumber when we get there."

"Ha! Yeah right! I'm gunna spend my time training. Right Udon?"

The bespectacled boy snapped out of his daze, where he was doing long division in his head just for the hell of it.

"Huh?"

"Konohamaru!" Moegi snapped, stopping in the middle of the road and holding her pink messenger bag open, "You ate all my nutri-bars! Again! You know I need those for my diet, you jerk!"

"Hey, I'm a growing boy!" he shrugged, sounding unabashed as he continued to walk by her. Ebisu shook his head, his hidden eyes rolling as his two loudest gennin began to bicker.

"That's enough you two," he interjected before they really got into it and caused a scene, "Konohamaru, you can give Moegi however much you owe her, and Moegi, you have some time to buy more since we're already here."

The three young ninja looked ahead to see a huge lot with piles upon piles of neatly stacked and organized lumber. There were men all over the place, chopping and measuring and shaving, each dressed in hard hats and overalls and tall boots. Closest to the entrance of the lumber yard had to be about fifteen large caravans, which were currently being loaded up with wood.

"Thank you sensei," Moegi grinned, grabbing the money out of a begrudging Konohamaru's hand, "I'll be quick, I promise!"

She ran off down the street they had just traveled on as another individual approached them.

"Hello there!" the burly, middle aged man who called out had dark brown hair and crinkled, green eyes. His clothes were worn and littered with little chips of bark and his skin was weathered from working long hours in the sun. "You must be the Konoha ninja! I'm Yamamura Tsuge, the man who hired you."

"Yes, I am Ebisu, and these two are Udon and Konohamaru. Moegi will be with us shortly."

Tsuge nodded to both of the boys, "Well, we should have these puppies loaded up by nightfall, so we'll be good to leave first thing tomorrow morning. For now, I guess you should just sit tight."

He paused and looked around, squinting at the number of men working on the caravans.

"Yo!" Tsuge called out to the workers closest to them, "Where's Nokku?"

"Huh?" the lumberjack looked up from the back end a caravan, "Oh yeah, he just said that he wasn't feeling well, so he went home."

"Fine time to get sick," Tsuge muttered to himself, not giving any thought to the fact that Nokku left just as the ninja appeared.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Naruto pushed the squeaky shopping cart down the white tiled isles, Hitomi happily jabbering away to her father who had no idea what she was saying. People left and right called out greetings to him, cooing at Hitomi and inquiring about his health. He smiled at the friendliness that was bestowed upon him, lapping it up as any formerly-deprived being would.

There were times when the small town made him nervous—after all, a place where most everyone knew everyone else was a hard place to hide out in. But perhaps it was for that reason alone that he had made it as long as he had without being captured by Akatsuki. He was now a regular in this town, no one of particular who would be considered unusual or out of place. He had become the "underneath" that was underneath, so to speak.

The young father finally reached the baby food isle, having already thrown in some milk and eggs that the kitchen was in need of, and began rooting through the many different flavors. He started with some basic rice cereal to start the baby on and moved on to more specific purees.

"Okay Hitomi, do you want mashed pumpkin or mashed banana?"

"Agahbah!"

"Pumpkin? Are you sure?"

"Uuuhhhuhha!"

"Yes I did brush my teeth this morning."

"Abababa..."

"Both it is."

A feminine giggle sounded from just behind him, causing him to jump and fumble with the mashed banana that popped out of his hands. He caught it and quickly straightened, turning to face a red headed woman looking to be in her late twenties or early thirties. She had a thin, rather plain looking face but seemed to compensate for her average looks with tight clothes and heavy makeup.

"Oh," he blinked, recognizing the one who had startled him that was now chuckling at his juggling show, "You're that woman Ichiro brought to the bar one time, um..."

"Saseko," she filled in, holding out a hand to be shaken, "Domoto Saseko."

"Ah, Saseko-san. Well, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and this is Hitomi, as you've met before."

"Wow, she looks so much bigger than the last time I saw her," Saseko observed, smiling widely at the baby. Hitomi's mouth hung open as she stared back at the stranger, a little bit of drool coating her bottom lip.

"Oh yeah, she grows like a Chia pet," Naruto joked as he absently wiped Hitomi's mouth with his thumb, "and that's why we're trying out solid foods now."

He held up the little Gerber jars in his hands to show her. Saseko giggled delicately and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. She opened her mouth to say something, paused to give him a look-over, and started to lean a little on the edge of his shopping cart.

"You know, it must be _so_ stressful being a single father," she started in a low purr, her voice somehow deepening to a more sultry tone that would have had Jiraiya all over her, "If you ever need any help..._relieving_ that stress, I'd be more than willing to give you a hand...to give you anything, really."

"Oh," Naruto said blankly, completely caught off guard by the sudden offer. As her words slowly processed in his mind his face became darker and darker shades of red, "Oh! Um...look, Saseko, it's not that I'm not flattered or anything but...I mean, I'm just...and you're...and, well...I'm sorry, but—"

She placed a long, slim finger on his lips to stop his stuttering triad; the contact was not doing anything to help his blushing situation. The small smile remained on her face, showing him that she was undeterred by his rejection.

"Just keep the offer in mind," she said, making sure to run her fingers across the back of his shoulders as she passed him with swaying hips.

Naruto could still feel the heat on his face, his eyes following her movements against his will until she disappeared around the corner of the shelf with one, last, heavy-lidded look thrown over her shoulder.

An older woman had just hit on him...

He looked down at Hitomi who stared back up at him, looking to be as bewildered as he felt.

"So how do you feel about mashed squash?"

Before Hitomi could give him her unintelligible answer something happened that made his heart stop. Something that could have put him and his daughter in total jeopardy.

"Na-Naruto-niichan?!"

His shoulders seized up at the voice, his fist gripping the jarred mush hard enough to nearly crack the glass. There were only three people who ever called him that, and only one of them was a girl. Slowly, ever so slowly, he looked up.

On the other end of the isle, facing him with a look of pure shock, was Moegi.

"Moegi!" He gasped out, his mind freezing as the horror of the situation was dawning on him.

He should have sensed her chakra signal—detecting other ninja should be a piece of cake for him! It couldn't be that Saseko had turned him into a useless pile of mush, could it? Or maybe he was becoming too lax after not encountering anyone for months...

It was by some strange twist of fate that at that moment his clone that he usually sent to work in the lumber field dispelled from the safety of his room, informing him that team Ebisu was hired to guard the caravans back to Konoha.

"Oh shi—"

"Naruto-niichan!!" With a speed that could have put Lee to shame, the carrot-haired youth ran across the narrow isle and dived into his stomach, managing to knock the wind out of him, "Oh nii-chan! No one knew where you were and everyone was so worried and then we found out that you were on an S-ranked mission but no one would tell us anything else about it and after the rain ninja attacked—"

He quickly bent down to her height and covered her mouth with his hand.

"Moegi, listen to me carefully, you cannot be seen with me. You cannot know I am here. And most of all, no one—and I mean **no one**—can ever know that you saw me here. Do you understand?" he said in a hard, whispered rush while giving a quick glance around to make sure there was no one else in that isle at the moment. Slowly, he allowed his hand to drop to his side.

Moegi's mouth opened and closed a number of times as she tried to make sense of what he was saying.

"But-but nii-chan, don't you want to see Konohamaru?"

"Of course I want to," Naruto sighed, "But I can't. You said you knew I was on an S-ranked mission, right?"

Moegi nodded.

"Well part of that mission was disappearing so that some bad people couldn't find me; even the Hokage doesn't know where I am for the sake of the mission."

"Oh," she whispered, her eyes downtrodden while she felt as though she screwed up big time. It must be a pretty serious mission if even the Hokage couldn't know all the details. She hated keeping things from her teammates, even if they annoyed her at times.

"Uhhh...waagaah..."

Moegi looked to her right and for the first time since she spotted Naruto she actually noticed the baby.

"Aw, she's so cute! Who's this, Nii-chan? She looks just like you," Moegi asked, approaching the cart. Hitomi continued to stare, fascinated, at the second stranger to talk to her that day.

Naruto scratched the back of his head and said the ever familiar sentence: "This is my daughter, Hitomi."

Moegi jumped and whirled to face him, her dark pupils dilated in absolute shock.

"What?! Y-your daughter?!" her head snapped back and forth as she switched her gaze between Naruto and Hitomi, taking in more and more similarities, "But how?"

Naruto gave her a dry look.

"Do I really need to explain that to you?"

The poor girl's face flushed ten different shades of red.

"T-that's not what I—I mean...who's the mother?"

Naruto averted his eyes and Moegi could tell it was a difficult subject for him by the saddened atmosphere that overtook him.

"She was a civilian from another village. She died in the Amegakure attack."

"I'm sorry," Moegi muttered, looking back at the blue eyed babe who still seemed in awe of her unfamiliar face. She smiled at the baby and offered her a finger, which was immediately grasped in a pudgy little hand. "So does that mean you've been raising her by yourself?"

"Yeah," Naruto answered, "be careful she doesn't get your finger in her mouth. She bites harder than you'd expect."

"Ah," Moegi acknowledged, carefully extracting her finger and instead began petting the short, soft hair on Hitomi's crown. The baby cooed adorably under the attention; Moegi could have doted on the little girl for hours if Naruto hadn't placed a hand on her shoulder, getting her attention.

"Moegi," he said lowly, in the grave, serious voice he seemed to have adopted in his absence, "do you understand why no one can know where I am? For every person that knows about me and Hitomi, that's one more chance for the bad people to find me."

"But...but _I_ know!" she said fearfully, "What does that mean? Am I in trouble now?"

"No, no," he placated gently, "as long as you never mention this, no one is going to suspect one random gennin from the leaf village to know where I am, not even Tsunade-baa-chan. Think of this as good practice for infiltrating missions—you'll have to know how to keep a secret, right? Oh, and try to keep your team away from the lodge, will ya?"

"My team, sure..." the gennin answered before her eyes widened and she looked at her watch, "MY TEAM! Oh no! I was supposed to meet them almost ten minutes ago! Oh, where did I put those nutri-bars? Oh there they are! Okay, I've gotta go, Naruto-niichan. I promise not to tell anyone I saw you, take care! Be careful and come back to Konoha soon!"

She gave him a short but tight hug around his middle that he could only return with a hand on her head before she was off. Naruto blinked, stupefied, at the spot she occupied only a second ago and slowly faced his daughter who was looking positively stoned at this point.

"So what are your thoughts on mashed carrots?"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Relax, Naruto is more concerned that he's acting.

1. Information I got was from en . wikipedia . org / wiki / Taido. Just because this is fan fiction, doesn't mean I can plagiarize XD

Yeah, not a big fan of characters singing in fics, but seeing the title and he's raising a baby it seemed appropriate (the song was Your Guardian Angel, by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus)

- I chose Moegi for a reason.

- The old lady from Cloud is not just some convenient character...she'll appear later on in the story

- Gerber exists in Naruto-verse...because I say so.

Now you may have noticed some or several glaringly obvious errors—that's because this is not edited. Strider's word.doc program has revolted against him so we agreed to post this for now and then get back to it when things are working again. Content will pretty much stay the same anyway.

**POLL**

That's right—I'm finally going to try one of these things. I've been debating in my mind for a long time what abilities Naruto's going to have in this fic. I'm definitely going to be stealing a few things from Troika, mainly because what I had going on that fic are things I'd just like to see happen in general.

But the question is: should I have Naruto do some "wind running" in ML? (and for those who never read TP, that's essentially flying) He's going to have several kick-ass elemental abilities, but if I do have him doing this, then I'll change up the method of learning and executing.

So just go to my profile page if you care and vote.

Thank you to those who have reviewed, they cheer me up in this dreary monotonous existence (especially since I think I just failed an A&P test u.u).

I know some people are annoyed with the pace this is going at. Well, deal. I know people are expecting more action from me (probably out of habit) but there are still going to be a couple more chapters of baby raising (which is obviously a big part of the fic) before things start to pick up and the ass-kicking commences.

Next chap: Sakura, house shopping, more Sakura and drinking. Party on.


	9. Girls like Boys with Babies

**Chapter 9**

That Thursday afternoon showed the Konoha General Hospital to be an ever-bustling mass of clamor and commotion; filled to the brim with nurses carting patients up and down the halls, doctors flipping through clipboards, muttering to themselves with small frowns on their faces, and visitors chatting away to their loved ones while delivering flowers and cards. But for one young, carrot-top girl, none of this was registering as she traveled the hallways of the village's main healing institution. Niwaiike Moegi maneuvered through the gaggle with slow, measured steps, failing to detect that there was anyone else around her.

For the last several days, her mind had been left in Bassai where her self-appointed "Nii-chan" was raising a baby all by himself. It was probably due to the sheer shock alone that she hadn't slipped up and revealed what she stumbled upon on their mission, instead remaining tight lipped and dazed around her team. Konohamaru-kun and Udon-kun had noticed that she seemed distracted during their training and even Ebisu-sensei voiced his concern over her lack of focus.

She just told them she was on her period and all the questions ceased immediately.

When the blonde gennin first disappeared all those months ago (and just after that attack) there was a lot of concern on behalf of his friends—especially Konohamaru-kun, who had been so upset he tried to bully Tsunade-sama into telling him where Naruto-nii-chan was.

...that obviously hadn't ended well for him.

However, over time and with a lot of stressing from their sensei to trust the Godaime, they had managed to accept that Nii-chan was on a super-important S-class mission—nothing more, nothing less—and would be back when he was back; all they could do was wait. After that, they had fallen back into their regular schedule of taking D-ranked missions and preparing for the upcoming Chuunin exams, trusting that their Nii-chan would return to them in due time.

But everything was different now; she now knew the exact contents of Naruto-nii-chan's mission, she now knew the dangers and hardships that he faced caring for a responsibility while staying undercover...

She didn't appreciate it at the time, but thinking back on it had her realizing that Naruto-nii-chan had really grown up. Before he left he was always goofing off, sometimes acting like an idiot, sometimes actually _being_ an idiot, and somehow managing to appear carefree no matter what the situation was. But when she saw him a few days ago, he didn't laugh obnoxiously or boast about his mission—he seemed calm and serious, if not a little frightful. He was an adult; soothing and assuring to her, alleviating her worries over possibly ruining his mission, but stern in his directive for her to keep her mouth shut and her head down.

He had it so hard but he never let any of his worries and responsibilities burden her, keeping up a strong front like it was second nature and somehow assuring her that everything would be alright. She didn't think she would ever be able to do what he did, to leave her home and start again somewhere else with no one to turn to for support or comfort. She admired him more and more every time she thought about him.

Unfortunately, thinking so much about what Naruto-niichan was going through had her subconsciously re-evaluating herself as a kunoichi, and she wasn't happy with what she found. What had she done during her first year as a gennin? What was her contribution to the team? Both she and Udon-kun had always followed Konohamaru-kun around obediently, but at least Udon-kun was really smart. Her grades in the academy were just above average, as were her skills. There was nothing particularly eye-catching about her and, up until recently, she was content with that. She had actually been planning on spending her entire ninja career standing in Konohamaru-kun's shadow.

She wasn't comfortable with that plan anymore—not when Nii-chan was going through so much for his daughter and Konoha. It was time she played her part as well.

This train of thought was what led her to be walking through the hospital, heading towards the small office appointed to the Hokage's youngest apprentice. Moegi was thankful when she reached her destination to find the door slightly ajar and revealing a pink head of hair leaning over the desk; it was around noon so there was a good chance that the young woman had gone out for lunch. Sakura-sempai had obviously decided to get some medical reports filled during her break judging by the pen in one hand and the half-eaten sandwich in the other.

"Uh, Sakura-sempai...?" Moegi coughed lightly while giving the door a soft rap.

With a few more scribbles of her pen, Sakura looked away from the thinning stack of papers and smiled kindly at the younger girl.

"What is it Moegi-chan? Are you hurt?"

Shaking her head in the negative, Moegi blushed in response to what she was about to ask, adding color to her already naturally-tinted cheeks.

"Um...I was wondering if...um...would you cut my hair?"

Sakura put her pen on her desk and gave the younger girl a bemused look.

"Cut your hair?" she repeated blankly, "Why?"

Moegi's blushed stayed, suddenly wondering if this was a good idea.

"I-I don't want to be weak anymore," she mumbled, looking at the tiles on the floor with renewed interest.

Pink eyebrows rose.

"What makes you think you're weak?" Sakura asked, now putting down what was left of her lunch in favor of giving the girl all of her attention, "From what I hear you graduated with pretty decent grades."

"Grades aren't going to keep me alive out there!" Moegi suddenly shouted, lifting her head with fresh determination, "There are so many dangers out there that text books will never help me with. I want to be the ninja that knows what she's doing because of experience. I don't want to keep relying on my teammates for their strength—I—I-I'm tired of looking at their backs!"

Sakura appeared to be stricken at the sudden confession, almost unable to believe what she was hearing. It was so similar to her feelings a few years ago that it was uncanny.

Moegi seemed to have calmed down after getting so worked up, her face relaxing into one of serenity, "And...I want to focus more on becoming the best Kunoichi I can be—not the most beautiful or whatever. I want to have skills that can be respected."

A small smile tugged at Sakura's lips as she regarded the younger girl with a keen eye. Her reasoning seemed sound enough—she certainly respected the new resolution—though it didn't quite explain why her hair needed to be cut.

"But why do you want _me_ to do it?" She decided on asking, "You know, Ino is much better at hair than I am."

Moegi didn't hesitate with her answer.

"Because…after you cut your hair you became super strong!"

The Haruno sat back in her seat; now it was starting to make sense to her.

"Moegi-chan," Sakura said softly, turning her chair so that she was fully facing the girl, "It wasn't my long hair that was holding me back; it was my attitude. The reality is...I cut my hair to get out of a sticky situation. I became strong through hard work and having a clear goal in mind."

"But it was symbolic wasn't it?" the younger of the two insisted, "I want to cut away all my ties with fashion and the unimportant stuff and start becoming stronger for my friends. People...people shouldn't have to deal with things alone...I-I want to be able to help more!"

Sakura regarded the girl once more. Up until now she had never really seen any similarities between her and Moegi. Sure, Naruto and Konohamaru may have been cut from the same mold and, at times, were everything short of being clones of each other. In that respect, it made sense for her to be friends with Konohamaru on the principle that they were both close to Naruto. But Moegi, and even Udon, had always been clumped in the classification of 'Konohamaru's friends' and nothing more. Before now, there had never been anything striking about the pig-tailed girl that would draw Sakura to her in any form of kinship.

But these insecurities, these feelings of inferiority and uselessness...these feelings she understood well. She couldn't begrudge a fellow kunoichi of the chance for change, now could she?

"Alright," she sighed, reaching for the pair of scissors kept at the desk, "come here and turn around."

A bright grin spread below her rosy cheeks, and Moegi hurried to comply with the command. She knelt down between Sakura's feet for the next ten minutes, watching as locks of orange hair fell around her folded legs. She remembered always being envious of Hyuuga Hanabi and her long, dark indigo hair that always had the boys staring at her. She had tried to do the same herself, but her hair just had way too much volume and would always stick out oddly. Now, as the weight over her head began to lessen, she realized that she could never be Hyuuga Hanabi with all her long hair and cold exterior and genius status. She was Niwaiike Moegi, the girl who was going to kick ass, take names and always be strong enough to protect her friends.

And when Naruto-nii-chan came home, she would be strong enough to protect him as well. Him and baby Hitomi.

"Done!" Sakura said, sounding pleased and dropping Moegi from her thoughts, "I'm surprised...I think it actually looks really good. Short hair suits you, Moegi-chan!"

Moegi turned around; gently fingering the freshly cut ends that now curled just below her ear.

"Here, take a look," Sakura handed her a small pocket mirror kept in one of the desk drawers. The carrot-top gingerly took it and brought it to her face, her mouth dropping open at the new girl before her. Gone was the awkward pigtails that she held up with bows, now her hair was parted at the side, the longer front lock wrapped in one of her ribbons, while the back of her hair poofed attractively—or rather, tamely.

"Wow...thank you so much Sakura-sempai!"

Sakura's eyes warmed at the sincerity of her excitement.

"But this means you have to begin training extra hard," she admonished, putting up a stern front.

"Yes! Of course!" the younger saluted, suddenly standing at attention to her superior.

The rosette let out a delighted laugh, "No need for that. However, if you ever want any help with your training, I'd be more than glad to begin training you in the medical arts."

"Well...actually, I don't really have any skills for medical ninjutsu," Moegi admitted, "My chakra control isn't all that good...that was always Udon-kun's forte..."

Sakura blinked. Of course, the medic-nin of a team wouldn't always have to be the girl; she was just so used to seeing that pattern that she assumed it was the same for Moegi's team.

"Oh," she said, sounding at a loss, "Well all right, you can send him in to see me and I can set him up with an apprenticeship with one of our medic-nins if he wants. But what is it that you want to specialize in?"

Moegi grinned.

"Me? I'm going to be a Fuuinjutsu master!"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

It was a late March morning and the sun was just barely peaking over the horizon to shed its light over the quiet town of Bassai. The lodge still had a number of tenants despite the warming weather; just about every occupied room upstairs was silent as the passing travelers snoozed on, exhausted from a long night of boozing. The only movement in the establishment came from the kitchen, where the owner was cleaning up several pots that were left out over night, and the dining hall, where a young man and his daughter dawdled in their own activities.

"So twenty percent of about ten million would be a little over two million...yeah, that would work...If I make a 2.5 million yen down payment then I won't have to worry about paying for private mortgage insurance..." Naruto muttered to himself, a newspaper in one hand and a pen in the other, which now hovered over the piece of paper lain out on one of the round tables.

He had saved up a lot of money over the last several months with his secret jobs; all of it had been stashed away upstairs in his bedroom until it could be credibly explained and deposited. He thought a lot about how he would explain his sudden influx in his account and, after much thought, Naruto decided to pretend that he got an inheritance from a dead uncle, one that was meant for him to receive on his sixteenth birthday and was merely delayed since his village was destroyed. It was a simple excuse, but believable.

Hitomi's behavior was becoming more and more absurd lately and he found he that he was being stretched too thin in his attempts to excuse all of it. He would never forget the time he heard Juhi scream because something had clawed a number of holes through the hem of her curtains. She thought it was rats at the time but Naruto knew better. The bars of Hitomi's crib were gnawed in several places and one of her baby pillows had been ripped to shreds. It was high time he got them out of there before something else happened that couldn't be blamed on rodents.

He glanced over the top of the paper to see Hitomi clapping a couple of blocks together, talking to herself (or the blocks since they'd probably have a better time of understanding her) and looking like any other normal baby. As if she could sense him watching her she looked up, smiling widely and showing off the four and a half teeth she had already grown in as she realized her father's attention was on her.

Seeing Moegi several weeks ago had given him quite the scare. It reminded him, yet again, of how fragile his situation was and had spurred him into overworking his specialized clones to the point where he was getting so pale that Juhi actually thought he was anemic. It was hard to gauge how strong he was at this point in the game since the only sparring partners he had was himself. He found it amazing that he had managed to escape the notice of any Akatsuki members so far, and much of that thanks went to his over-simplified cover, but he knew it wouldn't last forever. One day of these days, one of them would find him and he would have to be powerful enough to destroy whoever it was before they could warn the rest of the organization to his location.

Naruto shook the paper out—as it had fallen limp in his hands for the umpteenth time—and began looking over his housing options again. So far there were five that he could afford without putting himself into serious debt and only three of which that actually met his needs. He wanted one that was a little more isolated from the village and had a back yard that was private so that he could train Hitomi when the time came. He also needed at least two bedrooms and preferably two bathrooms (he didn't know how long he would be living there and he knew that one day Hitomi would turn into a teenage girl…though he tried not to dwell on the thought).

So engrossed was he in finding a new safe haven for him and his daughter that he didn't notice the little frown form on Hitomi's pouty lips when he took his attention away from her. He didn't notice her abandon her blocks and begin crawling like a pro towards him. He didn't notice her take an odd crouching stance between his feet...

He did, however, notice his paper nearly fly from his hands as his baby jumped right onto his lap, digging her solidifying claws into his shirt and scratching his chest just to keep her balance. He was so shocked at suddenly being pounced on that he barely managed to keep from falling backwards in the chair—though his pen did end up soaring from his hand to somewhere behind him.

"Hi-Hitomi!" he cried in both shock and amazement at the power and agility she just displayed.

"Dada!" she responded in the like with bright eyes.

That fact that his baby girl just sprang from the floor nearly three feet onto his lap fled his mind the moment Naruto heard her speak.

"W-what?" he gasped, "Yes! Yes! Say that again! Come on, say "Dada"!"

"Dada!" she giggled again, reaching out and touching his face with a tiny hand, "Dada—dada—dada..."

"Am I hearing what I think I'm hearing?"

Juhi pushed through the door, exiting the kitchen and wiping her hands on her apron as she hurried to investigate Hitomi's latest achievement.

Naruto hopped up from his chair, crushing Hitomi to his body as he peppered her little giggling face with kisses.

"If you're hearing my new name then yes," he grinned, unable to stop the silly smile from spreading. Hitomi seemed to realize that all the positive attention she was suddenly receiving was connected to her speaking and continued her game.

Pointing to the robust woman she said:

"Juu-Juu!"

Tears sprang to Juhi's eyes as she bustled over to the pair, taking the baby out of Naruto's obliging arms and hugging her to her impressive bosom.

"Oh! What a wonderful little girl you are, Tomi!" She clucked, "Juu-Juu...that's just the cutest thing!"

"Juu-Juu!" Hitomi said again, loving the reactions she was getting. Of course Juhi started fussing over her all over again. Neither of her sons had children, so watching Hitomi conquer every milestone had been just as exciting for her as it had been for Naruto.

"What the hell is with all this racket down here?" a gruff, cranky voice snapped from the bottom of the stairs. It was one of the travelers that had arrived only two days ago, disheveled and bed headed and scratching at his backside through his thin pajama trousers.

"Eh...sorry," Naruto apologized, though he couldn't even begin to force himself to sound sincere, the excitement was too much for him. "It's just...Tomi is speaking!"

"I don't care if she's dancing, I'm trying to sleep," the old man grumbled and waddled back up the stairs. Naruto and Juhi shared a look before bursting out into muffled laughter that was soon joined by Hitomi's much louder giggles.

Juhi's hearty chuckles were the first to die down as she noticed the mess of calculations and circled ads spread across the table.

"Naruto...you don't have to do this now," she frowned, "I told you before you can stay here for as long as you like. Don't push yourself to move out."

"I do love staying here," he assured her, "but...I can't. I just can't."

"I know, I know," Juhi sighed, having long since realized Naruto's need to be self-sufficient, "you gotta get on with your own life soon. I was just hoping you would stay a little longer. It will be so lonely here all by myself again, especially now that summer isn't too far off."

"It's not like I'm going to disappear," he said, internally wincing at his choice of words, "I'll practically be down the street. And besides, even if I do find a place of my own, it could take months to finally get settled in."

She heaved a great sigh, knowing it was pointless arguing with him. It wasn't like she could hold him hostage, "Well, it shouldn't be too hard to find one in your price range after all that money you inherited from your long dead uncle. Talk about luck."

"Ahaha, yeah..."

The topic of his urgency to move also reminded him of Hitomi's acrobatic stunt she pulled just before she started talking. The baby had practically launched herself at him and that in itself was a problem. He didn't want to smother her and impede her growth by keep her from exploring her abilities, but he also didn't want to freak anyone out and bring attention to her abnormalities. Her claws were already bringing trouble and he had no idea how he would explain her fangs.

He wished he could take back what he said earlier to Juhi; he would have to move out much sooner than months if he wanted to keep his low profile.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

With a new resolve to find a more private sanctuary, Naruto had set out that very day to visit some of the homes that were being put on the market (in a strange act of faith he left Hitomi with Juhi, who was delighted to watch her). The first house he visited belonged to a nice enough family with a collection of parrots that took up more space than the three people did. Unfortunately, he was pretty sure the smell of bird shit would forever be stained in those walls so he vetoed that one. The second home was much older than it had looked in the ad; in fact it probably should have been condemned rather than become a future home for a little girl.

The third house on his list was two-storied but narrow and painted a gaudy teal color. A little old couple lived there who were delighted to offer him a tour of their home. The first floor had a living room, half-bathroom and kitchen while the second floor had a master bedroom, a smaller bedroom turned into a study, and another bathroom. Truth be told, the layout appealed to him greatly.

What really sold him was the backyard, which happened to be accessible through the sliding door of the kitchen. It was far more expansive than he had initially thought it looked from the front and was mostly hidden by the circle of forest directly behind the house; the perfect arena for play and practice when it came time for Hitomi to learn how to formally defend herself.

This led him to be sitting in the cheesy kitchen—that he would definitely be repainting along with the rest of the house—drinking tea and being force-fed old and slightly stale crackers by Iijima Eimi, who, instead of discussing the payment of the house, had been telling him about her and her husband's plans for when they moved out.

"—At first we thought we should just head up to Konoha and try a bit of the city life, but they seem to get attacked a lot, so instead we searched for places a little more north so we won't have to deal with the cold seasons any more—Jinsei has dreadful arthritis in the cold—and in the end we decided that we are going to move to Wind Country!" the old woman sighed wistfully, "All that sun, I can't wait! I'm going to get my tan on!"

"As if ya need to shrivel up any more, ya old prune!" the husky voice of her husband responded from the bathroom. Naruto coughed into his fist to hide the laugh.

"Zip it, Jinsei or I'll hide your laxatives again!"

"Just try it, witch!"

"Um," Naruto quietly interrupted before he would end up hearing more than he needed to know, "Can we please just discuss the moving _in_ part?"

"Oh yes, yes, of course," Eimi apologized, adjusting her half-moon glasses. "Me and Jinsei were thinking of being all moved out by the end of April. Does that work for you?"

Naruto smiled, he could last another month or so without arising too much suspicion.

"Yeah, sure," he answered, "I'll have to stop by the bank later for a loan, so I'll have them call you, but how does a 2,500,000 yen down payment sound?"

"Do you have that much?" the old woman asked, her glasses slipping down her nose a little. Naruto laughed assertively.

"I may not dress like it, but I'm well enough off."

"Well if that's the case then 2,500,000 yen would be plenty. I'll go get the deeds to the land and other paperwork, you just enjoy those crackers."

Naruto bounced around in his seat while he waited for Eimi to return; a strange kind of childish energy that he hadn't felt in months overtook him as he came closer and closer to finalizing the deal. He was buying a house. A _house_. It was something he hadn't thought he would be doing for years until he got a family. Even with Kensha, he was planning on living in the new apartment for a while before ever thinking of buying a house. But circumstances wouldn't allow his initial life plans to take place and for once he didn't mind. Already he was having fun thinking of all the different ways he could fix it up; he would be repainting the outside for sure—perhaps an off-white color—and he would really like to build a deck in the back yard that would come off of the kitchen slider, or a porch in the front of the house with a swinging bench where he could just sit and relax. Hell he could have both—it would be his house!

"All right dear, I'm back," Eimi announced, waddling back into the kitchen with a folder of papers in her hand, "I hope you're ready to write because we have a lot of documents to go through."

Naruto grinned and took the proffered pen.

"Ready when you are."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Zetsu what have you gathered on his whereabouts?" a deep voice questioned, gravelly from the transmittance of the projection. The two-faced plant bowed its head in Pein's direction, the expression unreadable as the shadow of the flytrap obscured it.

"I have not yet found him, sir," Zetsu replied monotonously, "Though I do know that even the Hokage of Konohagakure does not know where he is. It seems he was assigned some sort of solo mission to travel far from Konoha and to have no one know of the details. So far, he has been quite successful in respect to that."

Pein found the latest bit of information intriguing but showed no outward reaction.

"Well then keep searching," the older man hissed, "He is the biggest threat to us at the moment and I won't have any student of Jiraiya come in between me and my goals."

The transmittance was cut abruptly and, ten thousand miles away, seated comfortably in an underground lair in Amegakure, Pein opened his eyes.

"Well?" the authoritative voice sounded from his left.

"Nothing yet, Madara-sama," Pein reported, "But the Hokage doesn't know where the nine-tails is either; it seems his disappearance was well planned and guarded."

"Interesting," Madara muttered to himself, subconsciously starting a slow gait around the room. His thoughts turned to the last surviving Sannin and a grim smile curled his lips, "Just what are you planning...Tsunade-hime?"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Awww, Shikamaru! You look so cute right now!" Ino cooed at the sight of her teammate uncomfortably holding his five-month-old godson to his shoulder. Shikamaru grimaced, completely perplexed about how he was supposed to be going about this while trying to fight back the blush of being called cute.

Yuuhi Kurenai sat back on the park bench with her legs crossed, smiling slightly at Shikamaru's awkward attempts to hold her baby. Sarutobi Keiji was born on December eighth; she registered him under his father's name in honor of her lover, and it was because of this that most of the village knew about the youngest member in the short line of Sarutobis. She had received much support from the village for raising the son of Asuma by herself; it had taken her quite some time to convince her friends that she didn't need to be babied as well. Asuma's nephew, Konohamaru, had taken to visiting the baby as often as he could, claiming to be the best role model he could be for the young boy. It was because of those like him and Shikamaru that Kurenai felt comfort in her son's future.

The genjutsu mistress had been taking a walk with her son down the main street, hoping to enjoy what was left of the beautiful afternoon, when she ran into team ten. From there, Ino had somehow managed to convince Shikamaru to hold little Keiji.

"Knock it off Ino," the shadow-wielder mumbled, "I don't even know if I'm doing this right."

"You better learn; you're going to be my number one babysitter," the red-eyed woman laughed to which Shikamaru snapped his head around to stare at her in horror. When he thought about supporting Kurenai, he always pictured the baby as...older...and more self-sufficient. Not so little, and confusing, and _scary_.

Chouji and Ino were quick to join Kurenai in laughing at the poor shadow-manipulator's expense, though little Keiji managed to snooze on through the noise.

"What's so funny?" Sakura called out, approaching the rowdy group with Sai tagging along next to her and holding a couple books in one arm. She immediately spotted Shikamaru holding Konoha's new favorite newborn and squealed.

"Oh! Shikamaru, that is so cute!"

Shikamaru groaned as Chouji and Kurenai began to chuckle again and Ino whooped in victory.

"See!" she crowed, "That's just what _I_ said Forehead! Isn't it the sweetest thing you've ever seen?"

"He doesn't seem very friendly," Sai observed, leaning closer to the baby that had a thin smattering of black hair and closed, puffy eyes.

"Sai, he's a baby, he doesn't know how to speak yet," Sakura said as she rolled her eyes. "And he's sleeping, what do you expect him to do?"

Sai, who had never seen a baby up close before, only shrugged. Kurenai slowly stood from the bench; once again clad in the tight wrappings she usually wore before the pregnancy and showing off the figure that had, by now, completely lost the baby belly.

"Alright, Shikamaru, I won't torture you any longer," she said, taking the boy out of Shikamaru's grateful arms, "I need to get him out of the sun now anyway. I'll see you all later."

The group of teenagers bid the woman and her baby farewell and watched as she disappeared into the crowds.

"Keiji is just the cutest baby," Sakura sighed, sounding wistful, "I could just cuddle him forever."

Ino nodded agreeing, "It was even cuter when Shikamaru was holding him—all confused and embarrassed! Precious!"

"Ino," Shikamaru mumbled, still blushing, "will you stop saying stuff like that?"

"She's right, you know," Sakura added with an equally devilish look as her blonde friend, "there's something about a guy with a baby that's just hot."

"It's probably our age," Ino reasoned thoughtfully, "We're at the age where we're looking for a potential man who would be good with children."

"Oh Shikamaru, would you father my children?" Sakura cooed, batting her eyelashes. The poor boy choked faintly and stepped back, leaving the pair of girls to fall over themselves laughing, barely able to connect their weak high-five.

"Sakura was being forward," Sai informed the sputtering brunette needlessly, "But I feel it wasn't sincere."

This admission only made the two girls laugh harder.

"Then I guess that means you wouldn't be interested in Sasuke anymore," Shikamaru returned irately, doing his best to compose himself. He _really_ hated being the center of attention for anything—especially if it was at his expense, "I can't see him handling any child."

"Aw, don't say that about Sasuke-kun!" Ino protested half-heartedly and Sakura threw the young man a dirty look for dragging up such a touchy subject. Shikamaru wasn't fazed by their looks of irritation, he was simply glad that he cut their antics short.

"Seriously, think about it you guys," he argued with a flat—and somewhat triumphant—look, "When has Sasuke ever shown affection to anything?"

Chouji nodded, recognizing when he was needed to back up his friend, "Shikamaru's right. I can't imagine _him_ holding a baby...unless it's to use in combat."

Shikamaru couldn't help but snigger along with his best friend, much to the two girls' chagrin.

"Hey!" Sakura snapped, feathers ruffled more so out of habit than anything else, "He _has_ shown affection, if you must know. I remember one time, it was right after we were assigned our teams, I was sitting by myself—on this bench here actually—and he...well, he said something very sweet to me."

She blushed a little, remembering those few words that fueled the crush she had for him into love. She had spent the majority of those gennin days trying to revive the sweet side of him that had left her heart fluttering—knowing that if she could he would be the perfect man for her. Of course, now that he was working with the Akatsuki she no longer saw that as a viable option, but that didn't change the past they shared.

Shikamaru's next words shattered her moment of reflection.

"Are you really that dumb?"

"_Excuse me?_" she growled at the unveiled insult. Both of Ino's eyebrows rose in interest—having never seen Shikamaru instigate a fight before—and she took a seat next to Chouji to watch the show.

"That wasn't Sasuke, Sakura," he sighed, the troublesomeness of the situation reaching its peak. Normally he wouldn't concern himself with redirecting some girl's delusions and misinterpretations, but he had a feeling this was something that was long overdue to be addressed.

"Ino, Chouji, you saw it too," he reminded to them, "Remember that day we saw Naruto sneak-attack Sasuke just after inauguration?"

"Oh yeah!" Ino said brightly and Sakura stared at her. "Sorry Forehead, I guess I never connected the dots before. But we saw Naruto jump into a room that Sasuke was in and attack him. We couldn't see what was going on because the window closed after he entered, but after a little while Sasuke came out of the window and ran off down the street."

"So? That's no surprise there. Naruto couldn't hold a candle to Sasuke-kun back then." Sakura griped, becoming upset with the way everyone seemed to be discrediting her. It was _her_ special memory, damn it! Why couldn't they let her enjoy it?

"Let me finish," Ino said, annoyed, "As I was saying, Sasuke came out of the window. But then about five minutes later, he came out of the window again."

"What are you talking about?" the rosette asked in frustration as her confusion rose. Where was all of this going?

"She's saying that the first Sasuke that came out of the window was a fake," Chouji answered, pulling out a back of chips from a side pouch. All the excitement around them was making him hungry. "Shikamaru was the one who deducted that it was Naruto in a henge the first time. I remember—we all had a good laugh about the almighty Uchiha getting taken down by the class "dead-last"."

"You two did," Ino muttered good-naturedly, "That was a slap in the face for me. Anyway, Sakura, when you came to me bragging about how Sasuke-kun almost kissed you, I guess I didn't realize that it coincided with what we saw. Sorry about that; if I had realized it sooner I would have at least let you know, even if you were my rival in love at the time. If you think about it, it was awfully odd behavior for him to approach you all of a sudden."

"Are you telling me," Sakura began slowly, "That it was Naruto who...who..."

She couldn't even say it. That day had left a lasting impression on her because not only had the man of her dreams charmed her, but he had practically read her mind, seeming to know exactly what to say to make her weak in the knees. Hell, he even complimented her biggest insecurity. That would give brownie points to any guy willing to love a part of someone's body that they were insecure about. To think that it was _Naruto_ who had made her heart flutter like that...it was Naruto whose words, disguised behind Sasuke's face, fueled a love that may have been false this whole time...

She ignored the little voice in her head commenting on Naruto's repeated declarations of liking her body as it was, even though she didn't have boobs as big as Hinata (and those were the exact words the idiot used too).

Damn it, she should have known! The first "Sasuke" had started asking about her thoughts on Naruto and she completely cut the guy down, thinking Naruto would never hear her say those things about him. What an idiot she was! The real Sasuke came only minutes later and was just as callous as he usually was, calling her annoying and everything. A complete one eighty from the boy who said she had a charming forehead. It made no sense for him to switch emotions like that. Why didn't she see that before? Did she really have her head so far up Sasuke's ass that she was willing to amplify any acts of kindness by him to overshadow his cold demeanor?

"So aside from that," Shikamaru deducted, "When have you ever seen him be affectionate?"

Honestly, it started out as a little jibe and turned into a full blown dramatic realization.

"I suppose you're right," Ino said begrudgingly after she couldn't come up with anything to defend her first love, "Still...he might not be father material but he sure is fun to look at!"

"Even I could see that," Sai said over her teammates' groans of annoyance, reminding everyone of his presence.

Sakura wasn't even listening to them anymore. She knew it was a stupid thing to get so worked up over, after all it was years ago, but she had put so much store in that _one_ 'tender moment' between her and "Sasuke"; she had let it help her overcome all his rejections. It was a simple moment that was the foundation for the image she had built up for the last Uchiha; she thought he had shown her a side of him that appreciated her for who she was. He was gentle and nice and gave her the time of day and it was all she needed to latch onto. It was what she was trying to save in him after he received the curse mark. Without it...Sasuke was just...just...

A jerk.

"Oi, Sakura! Tomorrow's your birthday right?" Chouji asked and she was surprised that he of all people remembered.

"Oh—well, yeah," she bumbled, a little caught off guard. She wasn't planning on doing anything extravagant. In fact, going home and screaming into her pillow sounded like a good idea at the moment.

"And you're going to be seventeen!" Ino jumped in excitedly, "We're all totally going to a bar!"

"All right!" Chouji cheered in agreement, consuming alcohol was almost as much fun as consuming food...almost. Shikamaru shook his head with a sigh, muttering "troublesome" and knowing that somehow he would end up escorting someone's drunk-ass home tomorrow night. Sai only cocked his head to the side.

"Fine," Sakura conceded, "But I'm _not_ going to get piss drunk. Just enough to loosen up."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT BASTARD!"

"You're too loud Sakura," Shikamaru complained to the spitting girl across from him. He most certainly wasn't taking _her_ home.

"I mean, who does he think he is? Does he have _any_ idea how much time he has wasted in my life?" Sakura slammed her cup down, sake sloshing over the rim and onto the polished, dented table. "You can't just go around playing with a girl's emotions like that!"

"Um...I don't think he was playing around with your emotions, Sakura-san," Hinata said, who had refused every drink Kiba was trying to force down her throat, "I think he was just trying to get close to you since you wouldn't give him the time of day otherwise."

"Yeah Forehead, you were a biiiiitch to him," Ino laughed before knocking back the rest of her cup. Tenten winced as she watched the boisterous blonde shout at a passing waiter for more sake; between Sakura, Ino, Chouji and Kiba they were going to go broke from all the alcohol that was being purchased.

Sakura ignored the name calling, "I mean...come _on_...I spent all that time acting like a complete fool in front of Sasuke-kun, believing that...that...he was just being shy or whatever...damn it...I actually believed he wanted to kiss me...Naruto-baka..."

She dropped her head into her arms, the sickness of too much alcohol starting to get to her. Still laughing, Ino patted her friend on the back unsympathetically.

"That's k-karma," she hiccupped.

While Sakura wasn't paying attention, Lee's hand snuck towards the abandoned sake cup before being slapped away by Neji.

"But—" he protested.

"No," the Hyuuga said firmly. Neji wasn't one for parties; he was a ninja, so he gave himself the duty of protecting the patrons of the bar from a berserker Lee by refusing him alcohol.

Shikamaru looked at Chouji who, despite all he had drank so far, was only slightly pink in the face.

"Tell me...what am I doing here again?" he had only had a couple shots himself and was just buzzed enough to tolerate the madness going on around him. Chouji grinned and pointed at him with a thick finger.

"You're reaping what you sewed. You're the one who had to tell her the truth."

"Bah," Shikamaru grumbled and turned his head away, "Someone had to do it; I was starting to feel sorry for Naruto..."

"You're having sex with Temari, aren't you," Kiba accused the strategist out of nowhere, earning a startled gasp from Hinata and prompting Sakura to blearily lift her head from the table top. Shikamaru sputtered at the sudden and direct question.

"Wh-what? What the hell Kiba! What gave you that idea?"

"It's true," Ino said, nodding to herself. Shikamaru stared at her, bewildered.

"How do you know?!"

"Ah-hah! So you admit it, criminal!" Kiba shouted, leaning across the table with his finger poised inches away from poking Shikamaru in the eye.

Frowning in annoyance, the pony-tailed male slapped the hand away from his face.

"That's none of your business."

"Ish okay guys," Sakura said, slowly refilling her sake cup. "He can baby handles, remember? Sho...so...its okaaaay. Fuck, I need sex."

"Wow," Tenten deadpanned over Kiba and Ino's snorting and laughing, "I think you've had enough Sakura."

"You mean he can handle babies?" Shino asked from his happily quiet corner, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"The girls think that guys with babies are hot," Chouji explained in a surprisingly clear voice that contradicted the amount of empties in front of him. "That's how all of this started..."

"Well hell yeah we do!" Tenten declared, earning startled looks from both of her teammates who were far too used to her being a tomboy, "nothing's sexier than a DILF."

"What's a DILF?" Lee asked while mentally trying to calculate the number of times he had ever heard Tenten say 'sexy'.

"Don't ask that," Shikamaru hissed but it was too late.

"Dad I'd Like to Fuck, of course!" Ino announced earning a cheer from Tenten and a blush from Hinata. The boys all looked completely stymied; some of the color draining from their faces while Shikamaru slapped his hand to his head and Kiba broke out into more obnoxiously loud laughs.

"A-a-what?" Neji uncharacteristically stuttered, staring at his teammate as though he had never seen her before. It had suddenly occurred to him that he might be more afraid of Tenten with alcohol than Lee.

Sakura grabbed another shot while no one was looking and continued ranting as if there was no other conversation going around her.

"I mean...It's not like I was just going to run back into Sasuke-kun's arms as soon as he came back to Konoha or anything...but...but..._damn it!_ And to think I was actually starting to fall for—"

She cut herself off quickly with a harsh swallow, glaring at the little cup of alcohol in her hand. What was this evil substance making her do?

"Oooh!" Ino squealed, latching on to Kiba's arm (who was closest to her) and bouncing up and down in excitement, "Sakura-_chan_ is in looooove with Naru—"

"Like hell I am!" Sakura snarled, "If that jerk ever comes back to Konoha I'm going to kick his scrawny ramen-loving ass all the way to Sound village—where Kabuto-orochi can have his way with him!"

Many people around the table winced, accompanied by several shudders.

Hinata coughed demurely to catch the angry kunoichi's attention, "Um...Sakura-san, don't you think that's a little harsh? You were both just children at the time..."

"And then he leaves in the middle of nowhere!" Sakura continued, ignoring the heiress's point, "No "bye Sakura" or "Oh I'm leaving for, like, ever, Sakura", just a stupid, stupid note! After not talking to me for two weeks! Who does that? At least Sasuke-kun had the decency to bench me out and put me on a knock. That's a better goodbye than just putting a blanket on me! Gah! I'm going to kill him!"

"Yes! Pitchforks and torches!" Kiba cheered, jumping from his seat and knocking over the stool.

"Group effort!" Ino agreed, joining him in his liveliness by kicking Sai's ankle.

Shikamaru looked from the two jumping fools, to Chouji who was cradling his drink to his chest, to a red-faced Sakura. A pair of crazy drunks, calm drunk, and an angry drunk. Yep, he was definitely taking Chouji home.

He would later learn it was probably not such a good idea to let Ino and Kiba try and find their own ways home. Having half the village woken by Ino's screams of rage and then witnessing a half-naked Kiba being chased out of the Yamanaka flower shop by flying kunai did nothing to help his hangover.

0o0oo0

* * *

0o0o0o

And so Sakura learns the truth...Dun dun dun

This is the ninja world so I'm making it less complicated than ours, aka, no buying or selling realtors. I figure this is a place where people manage their own money more than paying other people to do it.

Now that she's begun talking, Hitomi's baby days will be coming to an end...and toddlerhood will be approaching. Poor, poor, Naru-chan.

And yes, Keiji is getting the same name I gave him in my last story, because it's just easier and I like the name.

Drunk humor: last chap had too much angst, I like happy times.

Big, big thank yous to **strider714** for editing this nonsense and thank you to all of you who reviewed. It mkeas me so hpapy taht I hvae to wtire lkie tihs! Hahahaha...

It looks like Naruto will probably be getting his fly on, but not until much later and probably with a different learning method. (BTW, there are a lot of dirty, dirty hippocrits among us... -_- )

Next chap: the action commences (I'm taking REAL action)! And Naruto will obtain the greatest weapon everrrrrrrr. No lie.


	10. Sticks and Stones

**Chapter 10**

Eimi and Jinsei had moved out a little over three months ago and after his down payment Naruto now owned almost half of the equity—granted he would be paying off loans for the next ten years or so, but at least now he could honestly say he was a home owner at sixteen.

The first thing he did to christen his new house was to repaint the upstairs using a ton of shadow clones so that he and Hitomi could move in as soon as possible. It wasn't a second too late either; her fangs were starting to grow in and her toys were being mauled daily. Fortunately, Juhi was still blaming everything on rats.

The downstairs was underway by now; the few pieces of furniture the elderly couple were kind enough to leave him were covered in plastic and there was painter's tape lining the corners of the walls and edges of the windows. He had chosen a robin-egg blue for the living room and a pale yellow for the kitchen. When he finished painting all the walls he planned to go shopping for a new couch and some other furniture because, to be honest, the house was rather bare at the moment.

But today the sun was shining over clear skies and Juhi had convinced him to leave his home project for a day and have a picnic with her in the park. Naruto was now seated next to the older woman on a grassy hill, his shoes thrown off to the side as he watched Hitomi wobbling around the edge of the playground picking through the gravel. She had only been walking for barely a month but she loved to move around as much as she could. Occasionally the youngster would toddle back to him with a few pebbles and put them in his hand before going back to get some more. Naruto now had a pile of rocks next to his leg.

He had the most bizarre child.

"Yo! Naruto!"

The pair twisted their torsos from their seats to look behind them and Naruto couldn't help but release a groan, earning a playful elbow in the side from Juhi.

Kogaku Yasei was approaching and, while looking quite a bit less intimidating without his posse, still carried his usual aura of confidence and youth.

"Hey," Naruto responded casually, without making any move to get up. Likewise, Yasei didn't join him on the grass, instead standing over the he and Juhi in an imposing fashion. Naruto didn't know who Yasei was trying to impress; the blonde had fought academy students scarier than him.

"Ah, you're Mikon's boy, aren't you?" Juhi piped up, squinting against the sun's rays that showered over Yasei's shoulder.

"Uh, er, yes ma'am," Yasei answered, his demeanor suddenly turning into that of a bashful young man when he addressed her directly. The respectful look morphed into one of cockiness as Yasei turned to Naruto once again.

"Me and the gang are gonna be hanging at the water tower tonight. We wanted to know if you wanted to tag along?" he asked, sounding confident that _this_ time Naruto would accept.

Naruto's lips quirked in amusement.

"And your idea of 'tonight' would be...?"

Yasei couldn't help but wince as he answered, "...eleven?"

"Well then you already know my answer."

"Oh come on!" Yasei suddenly yelled, drawing the attention of a few kids by the swing set, "You can't be serious! You can spend _one_ night out. Just _one!_ You're not going to pass out and fall into a coma if you stay up just a little later!"

Naruto's brow twitched as Juhi boomed with laughter beside him.

"It's not about that..." he muttered, a small blush dusting his cheeks, "I just have other responsibilities."

"We all work, Naruto, its called 'time off'," the brunette countered. Naruto almost snorted at the misconception.

"My _job_ is hardly the issue here—"

"Dada!"

As if to prove his point Hitomi came bounding up to him as fast as a ten-month old could; her chubby little feet only able to life a couple inches off the ground in her hast to reach her father.

"Hey!" Naruto's voice was suddenly light and soft, his character switching from annoyed to loving in no time, "What'cha got for me?"

She answered by dropping three tiny stones into his hand with a wide, proud smile and immediately turned tail to hunt for more before he could even utter a "thank you".

A sudden understanding seemed to dawn on the older man as Yasei witnessed the exchange, and he began to draw in the similarities between the young child and his target.

"She's...she's not your sister, is she?" he asked quietly.

Naruto smiled and shook his head. Yasei looked back to the baby, who was carefully picking up each stone and examining it. A rueful grin graced his slightly-chapped lips.

"Heh, I heard the rumors of course, but I never actually thought...I mean...wow..."

The blonde nodded and closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of the sunlight warming his back through his shirt. He was used to such a reaction by now; at least Yasei would stop pestering him to hang out now that he knew where his priorities lay—

"Well, there is a such thing as a babysitter you know," Yasei declared, undeterred and shocking Naruto out of his previous thought, "Just because you have a kid at god-knows how old, doesn't mean your life is over."

"Eh? W-well, I know _that_, but—"

"You know, I wouldn't mind watching Hitomi," Juhi threw in with agreement.

"Juhi..." Naruto whined at the betrayal. He knew it probably looked like he was making up lame excuses not to hang out with Yasei and his friends, but it wasn't like he could just tell them the truth—that he was afraid to let Hitomi out of his sight, that there was the possibility of S-rank criminals finding him and killing him and his daughter, that he had to spend as much of his free time as possible training and studying, not wasting energy on socializing.

"I'm just putting it out there," the aged woman placated once she saw how agitated he was becoming, "Personally, I think it would be good for you to get out and interact with people your own age. You're too serious for your own good."

"Thank you!" Yasei blew out in exaggerated gratitude. Naruto frowned at the both of them, feeling unjustly ganged up on.

He had grown quite comfortable with his current schedule. Training, working, and taking care of Hitomi had become the standard routine for him and he was finding himself perfectly content with it. It's not that he was against having friends, but the more people he interacted with, the more people would know who—and where—he was. It was risky enough that he was playing the "simple" card to its fullest. His whole plan was banking on the Akatsuki—and everyone else for that matter—to think that his absence was a well-thought out and intricate plot to keep him out of their hands, not a last minute move to the neighboring town. The more people he became familiar with, the less comfortable he felt about it.

He opened his mouth to decline for the last time, before he caught sight of both Juhi and Yasei. There was nothing wrong with Yasei; the young man seemed like any normal eighteen year old and at the right moment even reminded Naruto of himself or Kiba. And Juhi...he didn't want her to keep worrying about him like she did. Ever since he came to her Inn almost a year ago she had been voicing her concerns about him not getting a proper childhood and needing to get out and make some real friends. He didn't have the heart to tell her just what kind of childhood he had.

He supposed it wouldn't _kill_ him to appease them both...but he would definitely be using a clone. After all, the last time he could remember hanging out with anyone remotely close to his own age was on his three-year training trip. Back then he was wild and carefree, much like Yasei behaved now; there was no one he had to be responsible for except himself (and sometimes Jiraiya, who would drink himself to oblivion every few nights).

"Alright, maybe some other time," he conceded slowly, hoping that he wouldn't regret subjecting his poor clone to a re-introduction into teenage life.

"Good enough for me!" Yasei grinned, "I'll check in with you later then, Isamu will be happy! See you around old man!"

"Huh—who? Hey—!"

But Yasei had already taken off, leaving an indignant and sputtering Naruto with Juhi's laughter and an ever growing pile of rocks. Scowling, the blonde crossed his arms and began pouting much like he did back in his team 7 days. If Juhi wasn't laughing so much at his expense she would have been awed at how young it made him look.

"Juhi..."

"Oh come on!" Juhi giggled trying to defend herself, "you've got to admit, he had a point. An old coot like _me_ has more of a social life that you do...and I'm practically a senior citizen!"

"I'm perfectly fine with my social life as it is, thank you," Naruto sniffed, turning away from her to demonstrate his displeasure. But Juhi would have none of it and knocked his shoulder back with a thick fist.

"It'll be good for ya'. Besides, Yasei's a good kid, if not a little rough around the edges. Who knows, you might make some friends your own age."

Naruto looked at her dryly, "I really, really don't think I'll have anything in common with them, seeing as I don't find stealing beer from parents and getting trashed in the woods fun anymore..."

Juhi shrugged, "Ya' never know. I'm trying to give you a little push towards some fun. Heaven knows you need it."

"Yeah, well, maybe I won't need you to help me buy furniture!"

"Aw, come on, now. Don't be like that. You know you need my help; you don't know what couches would match that shade of blue you have on those walls."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "They left us a couch, remember?"

Juhi restrained from face-palming.

"Boy, tell me you aren't serious. That couch is even outdated for me. We're definitely getting a new one. And on the subject, that dishwasher there seems like it might need replacing," she added offhandedly, talking, of course, of his new kitchen. Naruto shrugged and picked at a piece of grass next to his knee.

"Maybe. I think it will last another year or two at least...Hitomi! Don't do that!"

The little girl stopped in the midst of putting a handful of grass in her mouth and looked at him. Slowly, she moved her hand closer to her mouth, keeping her weary eyes trained on her father.

"Hey! Put it down," he told her and shockingly—though reluctantly—she obeyed, soon returning to fishing for pebbles.

"Good eye," Juhi laughed causing Naruto to crack a grin as well.

"She'll put anything in her mouth if she can get away with it," he said, shaking his head fondly.

A gentle breeze pushed through his hair, whipping the long, thick strands across his eyes. The sound of laughing children in the background and the smell of fresh cut grass and blooming flowers set a peaceful mood about the park and yet...something was off.

Discretely, he sat up straighter. There was something out there; he could sense it. Ninja honed instincts and demonic intuition rose along with the hairs on the back of his neck. His eyes surveyed the area around him in complete discretion, looking for anything out of the ordinary. A foreboding feeling bubbled in the pit of his stomach as the worst case scenario popped up in his mind. What if it was Akatsuki?

Whatever it was knew it had been sensed and it took off. It was faint, and extremely well hidden, but Naruto still felt the chakra source darting away from the edge of the forest not too far off from where he was situated.

"Juhi, will you keep an eye on Hitomi? I'll be right back," he said in a rush, jumping to his feet.

"Okay but—wait, Naruto, where are you—?"

The next thing she knew, she was talking to no one; just his sandals remained on the grass besides her. She had to wonder where he would go is such a hurry without his shoes.

"That boy...he's the strangest child I've ever met..." she muttered to herself, wondering how she always attracted such people into her bar.

"Whah dada?"

Hitomi was standing before her on partially steady legs, a fist full of rocks in her miniature hand.

"Daddy's coming back, honey," Juhi answered gently, taking the offered rocks placing them in their special pile, "Why don't you go get more rocks?"

"Rah'!" she yipped, her missing father forgotten as she moved back toward the playgrounds, "Rah', rah', rah'..."

'_Never mind_,' Juhi thought to herself_, _'that_ is the strangest child I've ever met.'_

"Back!"

The wizened woman jumped at the loud voice behind her and turned to see Naruto standing in the sunlight, hands on his hips and a squinty-eyed grin on his face.

"Where did you go?" Juhi asked as he settled himself back between her and the rock pile.

"Bathroom," he replied with a sheepish shrug.

Juhi let out a great booming laugh, "You really had to go, huh? Geez, boy, from the way you ran off I thought something horrible had happened!"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Naruto flew through the thick branches, his bare feet easily contorting to the rounded, rough bark of each push-off site. He had just sent back a specialized shadow clone to keep Juhi from being suspicious; he didn't know how long this would take. The pursuit had been going on for over five minutes now and he was quickly gaining ground on his target as the chakra signature started to slip in their haste, making it easier to track them down.

The sun was still high in the sky, making it easier to see where he was going at such speeds. They were heading towards the string of mountains that were just visible to the southwest of the village, the peaks towering over the treetops. Naruto had the advantage in the forest because it was his most familiar fighting territory—he had to stop the spy before they breached the woods and entered the mountain range; there was no telling what kind of hidden benefit or reinforcements that lay in those rocks.

A shape was just becoming visible through the shaded trees and with wide eyes Naruto realized that the dark figure was flying _through_ the trunks of the trees rather than having to swerve around them. Naruto sharply sucked in a small breath when a short clearing in the leaves above illuminated the figure for the briefest of moments, just enough to show him the bright red clouds on the dark cloak and the large, tong-like protrusion at the head.

It was Aloe Vera, Akatsuki's information gatherer. Now it was clearer than ever that the plant-ninja was heading towards the sanctity of the mountains so that he could report Naruto's whereabouts to the Akatsuki.

That just wasn't acceptable.

Naruto decided that he was far enough from the village to get away with a full blown battle. He gracefully flipped off the last branch his feet hit and landed in a crouch, one hand slapping the Earth with splayed fingers.

"Gohirarora no jutsu!"

Five bolts of energy-chakra flew out of the tip of each finger, gaining speed and size as they barreled down everything in their paths. The center bolt of energy hit the very tree that Zetsu was trying to escape into to transport away from and was blown to bits, throwing the missing-nin from its security.

Zetsu recovered from the blast in mid air, twisting his body and landing on his feet a ways away from his assailant. He took a moment to take in the damage the Jinchuuriki's attack wrought; nearly an acre wide circle of trees were knocked down.

"_So, it's a fight you want, huh?_" the white side spoke, "_That's fine; leader will be pleased that we will be the one to bring you to him._"

"**Yes, yes!**" the black side leered, "**He is just a baby Jinchuuriki, after all. This will be easy.**"

Naruto almost didn't move in time for a spiked vine to rip up from the ground and grab at where his ankle had been a moment before.

"Shit—!" he was so distracted by the sudden appearance of the attacking vine from below that he didn't see the two shoot out from different treetops and bind his left arm and leg.

Since when did oak trees have vines?!

"_They're from this body,_" white-Zetsu said in response to his unspoken question. Still struggling against the writhing creepers, Naruto took the time to really look at his opponent; sure enough, the ends of thick vines were protruding from the Akatsuki cloak as well as from his feet and disappearing into the ground where, no doubt, Zetsu was having them travel to attack at different angles.

The two vines that caught him gripped his wrist and leg, the barbs digging into his skin, tightening and tightening, threatening to crush each appendage until—

**POP**

"**A clone?**" the black side muttered, round, orange eyes dilating as a high-pitched whirl made itself known behind him. He hadn't even sensed the boy move!

The number of vines he had sent out quickly retreated back into his body, all except one that was connected to his left foot. He pivoted just a second too late.

"Oodama Rasengan!"

The large blue and white ball of spinning chakra was thrust into his ribs, cutting away at the cloak and tearing through a part of the right wing of his Venus-fly trap. Naruto powered through the weak resistance, add miniscule spikes of wind-chakra to the power-ball and aiming to cleave the top half of Zetsu's body away from the legs. His arm was outstretched, his body slightly off balance as he pushed off on one leg.

The pointed end of a vine—the lone vine that Zetsu had kept active—struck out from the side the second the rasengan reached Zetsu's actual body. It hit Naruto clean in the solar-plexus, immediately knocking the wind from him and loosening his control over the super-powered rasengan. The jutsu destabilized and exploded, throwing both men in opposite directions and crashing into separate trees.

Zestu pulled himself to his feet first; his clothes and the outside of his head-trap burned and scarred from the blast, but his face unharmed from his unique plant-protection.

"_Crazy brat,_" the white half spat, glaring at the dripping green-blood that pattered out of the shredded plant structure and hissed upon contact of the ground—it appeared to have acidic properties.

"**Eat him! Let us eat him!**" the corner of black lips demanded.

"_No_," white side hissed back, "_We must bring him to leader first!_"

Zetsu had allowed the boy to follow him through the forest, instead of straight teleporting back to headquarters, hoping to lead the brat into the mountains to take him out of his comfort zone and mess with him a little. As it turned out, his information on the boy was clearly outdated—for which the long disappearance was to blame—because the child was far faster and had more control of his power than was previously recorded. The brat had knowingly added carefully measured amounts of wind-based chakra to that last attack for Pein's sake! Who could do that?

Naruto groaned as this was going on and cautiously lifted himself from the ground, bits and pieces of his body releasing steam as he healed from his own blast-induced injuries; the explosion had left several patches of charred and bleeding skin that made it hurt to move and his chest was bleeding profusely from where the vine had broken through his ribs, only just scraping between his heart and lung.

He wasn't worried; he'd fought with worse before.

What he had noticed, instead, was that Zetsu had limited movement with that one vine feeding from his body through the ground. Zetsu had to retract all the other vines back in his body before he could leave the spot he was currently standing in. The more vines he pulled out of his body and sent through the ground the longer it would take for him to move. Zetsu couldn't attack someone with those vines—as dangerous as they were—without rendering himself immobile. Either he was evasive and unoffending, or attacking and effectively defenseless. It was no wonder the Akatsuki didn't have him paired up and actively hunting bijuu—he was only good for reconnaissance.

That meant...if he could get Zetsu to use a lot of those vines, then he would be grounded and more likely to be hit!

Shaking his head clear from the pain and returning his focus to the battle, Naruto made his favorite 'T' sign.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Seventy shadow clones flooded the small area, all attacking the Akatsuki ninja at once while Naruto hung back and recovered as fast as he could. Zetsu was on the defense immediately. At least twenty vines had sprung out from all over the clearing, zigzagging through the decoys with imperceptible speed and tearing through them at all angles with frightening agility.

"Com'mon, com'mon..." Naruto muttered, clutching at his chest as he tried to focus his chakra there, willing it to heal faster—he had to take advantage of Zetsu's distraction while he could. The trickle of blood leaking between his fingers began to lessen and his breathing became less labored—that was good enough for him.

The chaotic movement around him suddenly stopped, bringing his attention to the cloudy area; the haze of his dispelled clones made it difficult to see for the moment. He blinked and squinted and realized, to his immense horror, that there was nothing before him.

"Fuck!" he swore, expanding his senses in mounting panic, praying to any god out there that Zetsu decided to teleport back to the Akatsuki HQ...

And then he detected it behind him; the presence that was obtruding from the tree nearest to his back. He sprang forward in a dive as the vine swept underneath him; his body twisted like a cat's as another shot out from his left, and a one-handed spring-turned-back flip had helped him elude the clutches of two more beneath him. His hand came together to create shadow clones, but this time Zetsu would have none of it. With lightning-quick reflexes, three vines had whipped out of the surrounding trees, one of which finally caught the blonde by the middle. Zetsu slowly materialized from the trunk, the smooth green of his strange trap contrasting with the rough, brown bark.

The vine that had caught Naruto's waist was soon joined by more, slapping his arms and legs together and winding around his body. He didn't know where the slack was coming from but they began to wrap him up as though to put him in a thick, thorny cocoon.

"_Now you will come with us,_" the white face declared. Zetsu fully stepped out of the tree as he focused on pumping chakra into the vines. The girth of each vine slowly increased, yet tightened at the same time, causing the thorns to tear into the body trapped within.

Naruto was finding it difficult to breathe as his ribs were gradually being crushed; his arms were plastered to his side, deterring the use of any jutsu. He could no longer see due to the moving plant-life obscuring his view, but he was aware of being steadily drawn towards the ground.

Suddenly and piercingly, it occurred to Naruto what was really happening to him at that moment; Zetsu could transport him directly to the Akatsuki's base! Hitomi would be defenseless and in danger now that Zetsu knew about her. He couldn't lose her—he just couldn't! He would not lose anyone else to his own incompetence!

His efforts to escape doubled, but no matter what he tried it appeared to be futile. He was getting dizzy; it was becoming increasingly difficult to breath.

His feet were being drawn into the ground and he let out a frustrated growl with what little breath he had left. He could feel something tugging on his conscious—trying to pull him into the seal...

No! He would NOT rely on Kyuubi, he would not!

But falling victim to the Akatsuki wasn't an option either!

What could he do when he was practically paralyzed? These were chakra vines that had ensnared him; even if he could move his arms, kunai or weapons would be useless in cutting through them. And it wasn't like he even had any kunai to begin with—

Naruto's eyes reopened as an epiphany occurred to him and he was amazed to find that he had run through that rampant thought process in the span of a few seconds; he was only pulled down into the ground to his knees at that point.

Wasting no more time, he focused on sharpening his chakra against itself at any surface of his body. It was difficult since he had only been using his palms in releasing wind chakra, but, gradually, he began to build up a cutting pressure, particularly along his arms where it was more familiar to him. The wind chakra radiating off his arms began to chisel away at the bindings without him meaning to and he scrambled to hold it in check; it would take too long to saw at each vine surrounding him—he needed to break them all at once. He could feel the cold and hot vibes of chakra running against each other along his skin as he forced more and more chakra to press into itself, making the friction of wind chakra build as rapidly as he could. The pressure was mounting to the point of where it hurt—his chakra canals burned from expending chakra with such a foreign manipulation; if he ever survived this he would surely have to practice this technique.

His thighs were being swallowed by the ground now but he could hold on a little longer...

Zetsu's voice was muffled though the casing he was trapped in—still, he could hear the deep, mocking voice of the black side...

"...**Leader will let us feast upon your body**..."

The unstable violent chakra rolling over the skin of his arms began to backlash, causing deep gashes to appear along his body and tear through his clothes.

'_Just a little more power...com'mon...build it up a little more...I can do this...'_

"..._you are the last one...after this our plans will be complete and nothing will stop us from—_"

"NOW!"

The cocoon of chakra-vines exploded outwards in a huge, white blast, shredded in a single instant and releasing its captive from his prison. Naruto sprang from the ground the very second he was able to, pulling himself out of the transportation jutsu and landing a safe distance away from the shrieking plant-man, covered in his own blood from the repercussions of such an attack.

It was clear to anyone with eyes that Zetsu was simply furious. The Venus-fly contraption on his head quivered and opened, expressing intense ire and exposing more of Zetsu's actual torso. Hundreds of deep cuts adorned his body; the green ooze that was his blood seeped out of the torn cloak and dripped along the forest floor. Never before had anyone destroyed his vines—they were an extension of his chakra system after all—and that one, dreadful child had just obliterated a substantial chunk of his reserves. It would take days to replenish that!

"**Wretched thing,**" the black face snarled. If he had known that the child could utilize wind chakra—the most dangerous type of chakra to any chakra-composed constituent—so skillfully then he wouldn't have stuck around to play with the boy. It wasn't like he could leave now, now that the boy knew Akatsuki was onto him; he certainly wasn't willing to face the wrath of the leader for losing track of the brat for another year. His only option left was to take the Jinchuuriki out before he could ensnare and transport him, and he was going to make sure it would be messy.

Naruto could feel the frenzied movement beneath his feet and around him as the chakra vines began to recompose themselves with the renewed chakra that pumped out of Zetsu's body. The blonde was still trying to catch his breath, but his energy reserves were easily replenished thanks to his great stamina.

"_We were going to be kind and bring you in one piece, but clearly you are ungrateful,_" the white side cackled and, as Zetsu raised his arm, the vines that had reanimated in a surrounding fashion raised as well, their sharpened tips pointing at Naruto in preparation to impale him from every which angle. From above, below, at every side, there was no visible escape.

In the brief instant before Zetsu made his move, Naruto ran though his options in his mind. He knew that Zetsu wouldn't hesitate long enough for the chance to make seals for a jutsu and there were far too many of them for him to try and take out using taijutsu or even wind chakra after that last blast, his skin still hadn't quite recovered. His best bet would be to attack the source—Zetsu—head on before he became Swiss cheese.

"_**Die!**_" both halves of the face hissed in perfect sync, the cutting vines rearing back as if they were snakes about to strike.

And then they plunged.

What happen next, neither of the two battlers had anticipated.

Naruto's body had moved on its own accord; he lunged forward while twisting to grab a fallen branch on the ground. He didn't think; it was purely on instinct from all his training and training and training that caused him to suddenly utilize such a simple component of nature. He whipped the length of wood around like a bo-staff across his opponent's face, channeling wind chakra through it as he did so until a sharp spike of chakra protruded from the end of the branch.

The results were instantaneous.

Thinking nothing could come of being hit with a simple stick, Zetsu didn't bother to dodge. In fact, he almost outright laughed when the poor boy, trapped by his overwhelming odds, resorted to swinging a fallen branch at his face that ended up several inches off its mark anyhow.

Then his head exploded in a smattering of blood and brains as it was slashed clean in two, separating the nose apart from the mouth.

The remainder of Zetsu's body swayed for a moment, the jaw still working in wordless horror even without a brain to command it to do so, before it slumped to the ground, a hissing, steaming, photosynthetic liquid spilling out of the corpse as all the chakra vines in surrounding exploded out of existence.

Naruto was frozen in place, unable to move except for the harsh panting that heaved his chest back and forth, his wide eyes fixated on the dead body of the Akatsuki member. It wasn't changing into some replacement body; this was the real thing. He could only stare numbly as he tried to process the fact that he had just defeated an Akatsuki member without using any of the Kyuubi's chakra. He had hardly even used jutsu; just pure manipulation of wind chakra. Granted, Zetsu was probably just used for reconnaissance and not much of a fighter compared to the others, but still...had he really improved that much? This was the first time in almost a year that he had fought someone other than himself so...

He turned his attention to the slab of tree in his hand, still resting comfortably in his grip. It didn't look like much, being about the size of a walking stick—a little above chin high and about an inch or two in diameter—but somehow it was enough to take out an Akatsuki agent. To the eye it looked frail, but the inside was still a bit green, obviously being prematurely cut from its tree during Naruto's first attack.

He liked this stick, he decided, as he switched it easily from hand to hand, watching the wood pass through the air cleanly. It wasn't smooth like one of those kendo sticks, but rough and gnarled as any thin, tree sprig would be, and yet, it didn't agitate his skin. It felt as right to hold as it was for him to be barefoot.

Slamming one end of the timber into the ground and holding it parallel from his body, Naruto took an impressive stance amidst the destruction of his makeshift battlefield.

"I shall call you...Stick!"

And he then laughed. He laughed until he could do nothing else but laugh despite the burning of the acidic, green gunk in his still bleeding wounds, despite the torn and gory remains of his clothing, despite knowing that this may have just drawn more attention from the Akatsuki to this area...he laughed.

That day a little bit of the insecurities he carried around with him disappeared and he got a little bit of the confidence back that he used to bear so much of before he became a father.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

He had taken his time getting back home, making sure to allow most of his wounds would heal before he showed himself to his daughter (granted, his clothes were such a torn and bloodied mess it probably wouldn't have mattered). When he finally reached his house around four in the afternoon he found that his clone had taken returned with Hitomi from the park and had settled her down for a nap. "Stick" was left by the kitchen slider next to his forgotten shoes and he shuffled up the stairs to the bathroom, stripping the ruined clothes from his body the second he walked through the door.

Before discarding his pants, he reached into his pocket and took out the "black" Akatsuki ring that he had pulled from Zetsu's right pinky finger and placed it on the countertop. Next was the scroll he had sent a shadow clone to fetch while he was still at the war site. Inside were Zetsu's remains; he may have destroyed Kisame's body for his own selfish reasons but he knew Tsunade would appreciate giving her forensic scientists something to study.

Leaving the door slightly ajar incase Hitomi needed him, he stepped into the scorching spray, hissing slightly as the heat pounded into his still raw wounds. His eyes closed as he finally let his body release the tension it had been holding ever since he first detected Zetsu.

He always knew that he couldn't stay hidden forever, but that didn't mean he was ready to reveal himself yet. He still had a long way to go before he would be confident enough to expose Hitomi in such a way. There was still Pein left to defeat, and then there was that Tobi character, and Jiraiya's file mentioned something about a woman named Konan. And Sasuke...

His hand gripped the bar of soap he had begun to lather himself with and he clenched his teeth. Akatsuki: the merry band of bastards who seemed to do everything in their power to keep him from living a normal life. And, because Sasuke had joined them, he was officially no longer a friend to Naruto. Anyone that posed the slightest threat to Hitomi could not receive any leniency from him. If Sasuke chose that path then it was his choice, but Naruto could no longer afford to focus his efforts on saving someone who was a threat to his family. Now he could see that even if there was a chance of redemption for Sasuke, it wouldn't be coming from him. Second (or fifth) chances came from friends, not fathers.

He would continue to train, especially on honing his wind chakra now that he found so many possibilities with it. He also had to finish painting the downstairs. And he should see what Nokku could do about getting some lumber to start on a back deck. Or he could always just cut his own using wind chakra. Nokku's memories gave him a pretty extensive knowledge on woodwork.

Oh yes, and he promised Juhi earlier that he would go shopping with her for new furniture; she seemed so much more excited about it than he felt. Plus he had to get Hitomi a new high chair since she had somehow chewed through the plastic table of her old one. Now he knew better than to keep her waiting when she was hungry.

He also had to set up those safety barriers he had been meaning to get around to for the last week. Child gates were not going to keep Hitomi from falling down the stairs (or jumping) so he had been studying some seals he could place between walls that would create an invisible barrier keyed into only her...

Ah, the endless duties of a parent.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

When Tsunade received her next personal letter from Naruto (as in not intel related) it had been over a year since last one. Accompanying it was a scroll which was immediately discarded to the side in her haste to hear from him. Every month that went by without word brought her anxiety up a little higher; she was going to kill him for all the wrinkles he had been giving her as of late.

Just the sight of his familiar messy writing warmed her heart.

_Hey Baa-chan,_

_Well, I guess a lot's happened. I finally bought a house (see, shadow clones _are_ brilliant!) and Hitomi is almost fourteen months now. She's learned to both talk and walk—which means she never shuts up and I have to keep her on a leash. Seriously, just the other day I found her stuck to a lampshade five feet off the ground. I swear, I turn my back for one minute..._

_She also enjoys putting anything she finds on the ground in her mouth. Kyuubi mentioned that she would be teething for up to a couple years, which is why I find teeth marks and scratch marks all over the furniture. Sometimes I feel like I'm disciplining a pet._

_I threw in another picture because somehow I know you and Juhi share some grandmotherly obsession with having evidence that we exist. Juhi took it the day we moved into our house. Right now I'm working on building a deck for the back yard; it's slow going but it will be awesome when I finish!_

_On a darker note, Akatsuki's recon man found me. Calm down! I caught up to him before he could relay any information and took him out. The good news is that I did it without using any of the Kyuubi's chakra. I guess all the training I've been doing has been paying off—though I feel I still have a ways to go._

_The other scroll is what I sealed Zetsu's body into (both halves). I didn't have you around to encode your DNA into the release seal, so I just programmed it so that only people with blonde hair could open it. Hopefully someone else who's blonde won't somehow get it before you do—they'd be in for a bit of a nasty surprise. I would have sent it sooner, but life's been keeping me pretty busy and I wanted to gather a bit more information on the eight tails before I sent this. Sadly, 'Killer Bee' (I think he's called) has been captured by "Hawk" and that means I'm now on the top of their target list. Time to up the ante, eh?_

_Writing to you makes me feel like I'm writing in a diary, so I'm going to stop now. Sorry for taking so long!_

_Love, Naruto (and Hitomi)_

Tsunade couldn't help but laughed out loud at certain points in his letter. Even the disturbing news about the Akatsuki was overshadowed by his ingenuity with the release key; Blondes were quite rare as it was in these parts.

If receiving intel from him helped to reassure her about sending him away on this mission, then the personal letters (and pictures) helped to settle her nerves about her decision to let raise his daughter. There was no doubt in her mind that he was right in that it would have been hard to find someone who would put up with that sort of behavior from an infant. Chewing through plastic? Hanging off lampshades? She certainly didn't envy her fellow blonde, that much she was sure of.

Shaking her head from the silly thoughts, she eagerly pulled out the picture from the envelope.

"Oh!" Tsunade sighed, a wide smile stretching over her face as she saw the most adorable child she had ever laid eyes on. Hitomi was in a pink and orange summer dress, her plump little feet bare against the countertop she stood on, round cheeks adorned with twin whiskers flanked pouty lips partially open in bewilderment. Her hair had grown so that it flipped at the nape of her neck and her eyes were a striking shade of cerulean, matching her father's almost exactly, whose face was right next to hers as he held her sides.

Naruto looked as if he had grown several inches, his face already appearing to be leaner—though she had to wonder how much of that was puberty and how much was from fatherhood. His hair had become a mix between spiky and shaggy—in serious need of a haircut, in her opinion—falling into his eyes, and the slightest hint of facial hair was just barely visible around his jaw.

He seemed much more carefree in this letter than in his last one as well, as if some of the old, goofy Naruto was shining out beneath that rough exterior of responsibility and anxiety that had taken over. It made her happy to see him recovering, even if it had to be away from her.

She stood from her chair and grabbed the scroll, making sure to lock up the picture and letter in her personal drawer before heading off to the ANBU division.

It was time to see just what that boy was capable of.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

**Gohirarora no jutsu** translates to something like "five palm strike"; even though he only used one palm o.O

Ah yes, Zetsu's anticlimactic end. Ugh, now we're back to the fight scenes; not the best I've ever written, but it doesn't matter—I only needed it for Naruto to get "Stick". Hahaha, and you all thought it would be some classic weapon. Hells no...Stick will be the coolest weapon ever because it's only as powerful as Naruto makes it. And it's a stick. You just can't beat that.

And, as a tribute to Stick...

http : // strider714 . deviantart . com / art / Naruto-Meets-Stick-100821916

My editor—aka **strider714**, who once again slapped some sense into this fic—photoshoped this comic. This just went so well with this chapter that I laughed uproariously for far longer than necessary.

There's also a doodle of Moegi's new hairstyle on my dev-art account, I just forgot about it.

Next chapter: well, I guess we can say the cat's out of the drawer...uh...I mean, bag.

Do you see that sweet new button just below here for reviewing? It's like BAM right there, so no one can miss it. Why don't you test it out? Tell me how it works X3


	11. Drawer Full o' Secrets

**Chapter 11**

Naruto was the most brilliant man alive.

Hitomi was about eighteen months now and had finally stopped chewing on things. The relief her poor father got out of his spared furniture was countered by the simple knowledge that she was done teething. In other words, her baby fangs had completely grown in. And anyone who took the time to look would notice the distinguishable points to her nails. The truth of the matter was that Hitomi was not a completely normal looking little girl and there was just no hiding this fact, especially when he possessed absolutely no genjutsu skills to cover her with.

The day had finally come when Juhi just had to comment on her appearance. He knew it was long overdue; the woman was practically family and had been holding her tongue for quite some time. But after finding two distinct puncture marks in one of her shoes, the innkeeper could no longer pretend that she didn't notice anything. So she asked him what exactly the deal was with his daughter.

His immediate response was: "Her mother was a relative of the Inuzuka clan."

And that was that.

The odd, and sometimes feral, behavior and appearance of the toddler was explained in that simple statement and everyone was willing to believe it. After all, non-ninja villages had a limited knowledge on ninja clans. The answer had come to him just after she asked the question, as though it were waiting for an opportunity to present itself this whole time. Perhaps if he had thought of it before, he could have spared himself the headache of rushing to find a house.

No matter, what was done was done and he was living comfortably with Hitomi, sending his two clones out to their respective jobs every day and spending most of his own nights working at the lodge's bar, and always with Hitomi at his side. He continued to train deep in the woods behind his house, but now he brought his daughter along as well. It was busy season for the lodge, so Juhi didn't notice their long absences during the day.

About a mile into the forest directly behind their house was a river—the very same one that ran through Konoha and probably on southward into the Gulf of Fire. It flowed down a small waterfall about forty feet high, the base of which soon became his favorite training area.

Hitomi loved to watch her father train. She loved watching him produce hundreds of clones like a magic trick and watching him fight them on top of the water. She loved watching him practice with Stick as he slowly learned proper staff-wielding through scrolls. Often times, she would tempt to mimic him; trying to kick and punch the air to the best of her ability (which always ended in her falling to the ground).

No one could deny that Hitomi was a smart baby; at only a year and a half old she knew the rules: she was allowed out in the backyard under her father's watch and was even allowed to play in the woods, but she was never to go near the river without him and needed to tell him when she was going to climb a tree. Naruto tried to get her to wear shoes when he took her outside out of the instinct to protect her little feet, but she stubbornly refused to do anything he didn't do.

Usually Naruto would train until he only had just enough time for a quick shower before he had to be at the bar, but on his nights off (which were far and few between) he took full advantage of the opportunity to relax.

At the moment, the worn out blonde was reclining on his soft couch with his feet up on the coffee table, exhausted after a long day of training and chasing Hitomi around. A year and a half of non-stop conditioning and studying left him confident enough to say that he was an extremely skilled shinobi. What he accomplished in months with his shadow clones would have taken others a lifetime, and his control over his wind-based chakra had nearly enough finesse to rival Tsunade's control over her strength. He had yet to encounter another Akatsuki since Zetsu, but everyday he had to train was another advantage for him for when the next one found him.

Unfortunately, relaxation was just out of reach for the young father as the soft pitter patter of feet alerted him to Hitomi's approach. The little girl suddenly appeared before him with a children's book the size of her torso clutched in both hands which she wordlessly lifted to his lap. Naruto winced at the claws that dug into his leg as she pulled herself up as well.

"You're supposed to be in bed," he said kindly, rubbing his sore thigh. Hitomi ignored his admission and slapped the book a couple times.

"Wead!"

"Oh? You want a story first?"

"Yah, yah!" she puffed with her tongue hanging out of her mouth a bit and bouncing on his lap. Naruto laughed and pulled her to his body, getting comfortable as he opened the picture book to the first page and leisurely began to read the easy sentences.

Hitomi hardly listened to what he was saying. She just liked the sound of his voice, sitting in his lap and looking at the pictures. Naruto was often interrupted by her admissions to each picture; though she had seen this book a hundred times she never seemed to get tired of looking at it.

"Aminah!" Hitomi yelled, pointing at the cartoon picture of a moose in a chef's hat, "Daddy! Ah Aminah!"

"An-ni-mal," Naruto pronounced slowly, "You say, _animal_."

"A-min-nah!" she insisted, and then forcibly turned to the next page as if that was that. Naruto grinned warmly down at her and kissed the top of her head. God help the Akatsuki if they ever got their hands on her because if he didn't kill them, she surely would.

"Ducky!"

"No…that's a doggy, Tomi. Say _dog-gy_."

"DUCKY! Ducky-ducky, woof woof!"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Tell me Sasuke-kun, what does Naruto-kun mean to you?"

Madara's voice didn't come as a shock to Sasuke, who had known the man was lurking behind him during his meditations. After the battle in capturing the eight-tails the dark-haired man had resumed his training regimen as it had been put on the back burner in light of his travels; the Jinchuuriki had put up a fierce fight that served as a harsh reminder of the power bijuu had, Sharingan wielder or not.

"Nothing," The reply was precise, cold and unhesitating.

The aged Uchiha lingered for a moment, the single eye boring into the broad back of his only relative.

"Nothing? Your past friendship with the boy holds no influence over your feelings?"

Feeling irritated at the vexing subject that was suddenly being thrust upon him, Sasuke opened his eyes.

"I cut my bonds with him a long time ago. I hold nothing but contempt for him, now."

The smile that curled scarred lips went unseen behind the mask.

"Good."

And then he left, leaving Sasuke to ponder what that could possibly mean.

Madara swiftly entered another chamber within his vast, underground cavern and arrived just in time to hear Konan and Pein talking.

"—has not returned for some time now. Do you think he has abandoned our cause?" it was the woman's voice that he heard as he walked under the dim lighting, and of whom she was talking about he already knew.

"No, I do not. Something must have happened to him—ah, Madara-sama...we were just discussing the whereabouts of Zetsu," Pein had turned away from his childhood friend to address his superior appropriately. Madara waived him off impatiently.

"Never mind that for now. We need to find the last Jinchuuriki. This delay is unacceptable. Though I must confess, I have a gut feeling that the nine-tails child is behind our friend's disappearance over the last few months."

Pein frowned and shared a furtive look with his blue-haired partner. There was something innately threatening about his deceased sensei's last student—even just the mention of him—that often left him feeling irked. For no one should be able to disturb a god, especially a child abomination.

"Is Sasuke-san opening up?" he asked as a change of subject.

"Slowly," Madara nodded, "but surely. It is most fortunate for us that the emotional and psychological damage his brother had done works well to our advantage. His actions have left him with nothing and no one, save for his ragtag group of Sound-castoffs. There is no reason for him not to join us permanently; and there is no chance of him rejoining Konoha."

"Perhaps he can aid us in capturing the last Jinchuuriki," Konan suggested stoically.

"Oh yes," the Uchiha agreed, "There is no doubt in my mind that he will help us bring about the downfall of Konoha...and Uzumaki."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Tsunade-shishou!" Sakura shrieked upon entering the Hokage's office with Ino at her side, "Are you drunk?!"

"**For Christ's sake it's only two in the afternoon, ya lush!"** her inner screamed with a shaking fist.

Shizune had been sick as of late and had asked both girls to cover for her at the hospital while handling some of her assistant duties as well. Neither Chuunin had any objection to the request; they had planned on speaking to Tsunade anyhow in hopes of getting a mission outside of the village. Things had been very quiet around Konoha as of late and they were growing rather restless for some action. On the way over they had bumped into Shino, who had asked that they put in a request for him as well, for he too was bored. After all, a lack of missions led to antsy ninja, and antsy ninja often ended with countless repairs of public facilities and unhappy tax payers.

While the two girls were expecting to see a few unfinished reports piled around the desk when they entered the spacious room, they were not prepared to find the Hokage flushed and swaying on her chair with a sake cup in hand.

"Pshh, Sakura you are _so_ priggish. You worry too much!" Tsunade drawled, guzzling down the rest of her drink.

"P-priggish?!" If it weren't for the fact that this was her mentor, the Sannin who could probably crush her head between two fingers, she would have belted the woman.

Stifling a giggle, Ino stepped in front of Sakura before the girl's temper could prompt any rash actions.

"Ah, Shizune-sempai asked us to remind you that Homura-sama and Koharu-sama are expecting you," she recited.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," the woman mumbled irritably, standing up with far more grace than one would anticipate from someone who just downed half a bottle of sake, "Why do you think I've already started drinking? I've got to be—to be _sharp_ for this..."

Sakura (who was still a bit red in the face) and Ino shared a look.

"Shishou, what could they possibly have to discuss with you that you need to be drunk for?" The pinkette questioned, forgetting her anger for the moment.

Tsunade waved her off as she walked by her, "Never you mind. I'll be back in a few. Hopefully this doesn't take too long..."

The two girls watched the buxom blonde leave the office, missing the door handle the first time she attempted to open it.

"It's a miracle she gets anything done," Ino commented once she was gone, "Aw crap! We forgot to ask for a mission!"

Sakura shrugged, "It's alright. We can just wait here for her. She said she would be back soon anyway..."

"Hey," Ino said with a devious grin, "You know what we should do? We should hide all her sake!"

"Ino!" Sakura gasped at the very suggestion, "No!"

"Oh, come on!" the blonde argued, "You know Shizune-sempai has been meaning to do that forever. This is the perfect opportunity!"

Sakura remained steadfast in her refusal.

"No way! I'm not going in there! She'll kill me! Especially if she finds all her sake gone!"

"She's not even here and everyone knows that she keeps it in the drawer with the lock."

"Yeah, and everybody knows better than to go anywhere near that drawer."

"But sempai even said we had permission to go in there before, remember? No important documents in with the sake."

"No Ino," Sakura said firmly.

"Tsunade-sama was right; you _are_ priggish," Ino teased while sticking out her tongue.

"Wh-why you—! Fine, move over," Sakura marched around to the back of the desk, pulling out a pin from her side pouch and biting it into a more malleable shape.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Ino cheered. Sometimes Sakura was just too easy to manipulate.

"Ugh, be quiet before you draw someone's attention to us. Go keep watch over the door."

"Fine, fine..."

Ino walked over to the thick wooden doors and pressed her ear against it, listening for any indication that someone was approaching. The most she could make out was the slightly muffled garble of some Chuunins passing by in the hall, but none appeared to be heading in their direction.

"What's taking you so long, Forehead?" she asked after a long moment of hearing nothing.

"Hold your horses, Pig," Sakura grunted, jiggling the wire a bit more, "This is ridiculous—grr—the only drawer we're allowed in and it's the only one locked. I almost—ugh—got it..."

A barely audible click was heard by both young women as the drawer unlocked.

"Sweet!" Ino giggled, remaining at her station by the door while Sakura began to dig out all of the bottles, "Shizune is going to love us for this! You know what we should do? We should just take them to Kiba's or something and have a party."

"Ino, from what I hear you and Kiba shouldn't be mixed with alcohol," Sakura grinned, pulling out bottle after bottle of sake. Honestly, how much could one woman drink?

The hand buried deep inside the drawer paused as it brushed a firm piece of paper on the bottom. Her nails scraped against the wood as she curiously picked it up, turning it over to see that it was a photo.

She didn't notice Ino's face flush red from her earlier comment.

"That is so low Sakura! You know I was drunk! As if I would ever touch that flea-bitten, mangy—hey...Forehead...are you even listening to me?"

Ino realized that she could no longer hear the clanking of bottles being moved, everything had suddenly gone quiet and still. All she could see was the top of a pink head poking up from behind the desk, completely motionless.

"Sakura?"

She stood, making her way across the office and around to where her friend was kneeling with a bowed head. There was something in her hand.

"Sakura, what...?"

Leaning over her shoulder, Ino got a good look at what had captivated the medical prodigy so much. It was a photo—a photo of...

"Th-that's—!"

"...Naruto," Sakura finished in a whisper, her eyes glued to the little girl in his arms. She could feel tears burning at the corners of her eyes and she didn't bother to begin to wonder why she was suddenly so distressed. It had taken a while, but, little by little, Sakura had moved on from being left behind by both of her teammates. Without Naruto, finding Sasuke seemed just about impossible. In fact, it seemed downright pointless, especially now that the last Uchiha had lost all hope of returning to Konoha.

She had found other things to occupy her time; she now had a steady job at the hospital, interrupted by the occasional B-ranked mission, and found substantial time to hang out with her friends. It was the life she had imagined she would lead when she first decided to become a ninja. Over the last year or so she had felt more and more like a normal Kunoichi that was enjoying her youth rather than a lost girl caught up in a whirlwind of S-class missing-nins and demons. She had finally accepted that the last Jinchuuriki would no longer be a significant component of her world for a quite a while and she was just starting to enjoy the normalcy that her life had settled into.

And then Naruto popped back in again. Not even in person; just his face seemed to be enough to send her through the loop with a long forgotten feeling of heartsick tightening in her breast. He had a _baby_. There was simply no way for her to get around this; that child had to be his. Same eyes, same shade of blonde hair, and the whiskers, of course...

"Naruto has a kid!?" Ino screeched so close to Sakura's ear that the girl shrieked herself in surprise. "_That_ guy has a kid?! Let me see that! I don't believe this!"

Ino snatched the picture from Sakura's unwilling hands, ignoring the halfhearted protest.

"I don't believe this," the blonde repeated, holding one hand to her forehead as she stared at the picture in her other. "He...he's really...and that...Oh...oh my god..."

"What?" Sakura asked, pushing herself up on shaky legs. Her whole body seemed to have gone numb and the only thing she could feel was the uncomfortable twisting in her stomach, making her nauseous. Ino looked at her with her mouth agape.

"Sakura, remember the day he disappeared?"

"Yeah, I do..." she remembered not seeing him for a couple weeks, his odd behavior, his apartment being burned down...Kisame's body was supposedly in there as well...

"Sakura...that day...in the maternity ward..."

Pink eyebrows rose in understanding.

"He was there because that must have been when the baby was born!" Sakura deducted. She wanted to look away from the photo, to not have to see the same crooked grin accompanied by a different set of wizened eyes that seemed to bore into her. Without even speaking to him she could tell that he was a different person; his eyes just said it all...they always had, "But...what happened to the mother?"

"I remember he was crying a lot in the hospital," Ino mumbled, frowning as she looked at the picture again, trying to overlay the distraught face from her memory over the grinning young man before her, "he couldn't even seem to talk, he was so upset. Do you think...you think something happened to her?"

Sakura wracked her brain as she thought back, the wheels behind that large forehead turning.

"Well...Kisame was in his home, remember? And...and he was being so weird for a couple weeks before the attack...and that attack was planned by the Akatsuki...oh no! Kisame must have gotten her! That's why his body was found in the apartment! And—and the secret of the shadow clones! That's why Naruto ran away from the battle! He wasn't running _away_! He was running _to her!_"

Ino took a step back from the sudden outburst.

"Whoa, whoa! Back up, Forehead! What secret of the shadow clones? What are you talking about?"

Sakura's shock over discovering Naruto's secret was pushed to the back of her mind for the briefest of moments as the excitement of the puzzle pieces falling into place drove her into lecture mode.

"When one of Naruto's shadow clones dispels he gets all the memories that they experienced. If he left a clone with the mother when he ran off to fight, and then Kisame came and attacked him...when the shadow clone dispelled he knew that she was in trouble and went to save her."

"That _would_ explain why he left so suddenly," Ino said to herself, "And why no one happened to run into him much for those weeks beforehand if he was with the mother..."

They lapsed into silence, the sake bottles around their feet forgotten as they both stared at the picture again.

"So...you think he's been raising her all this time? All by himself?" Ino asked finally, leaking out a bit of worry at the suggestion. It would have been awful for Naruto to experience all that without the help of his friends; she certainly wouldn't have been able to handle that kind of stress and responsibility couple together. Although, concern aside, she had to admit, now that the completely blindsiding shock had died down a bit she was starting to admire the picture for what it was: a handsome young man with a cherubic looking baby.

"Maybe..." Sakura mumbled, her thoughts unknowingly following Ino's as she continued to survey the picture in their hands. "I can't honestly say. But I hope not. I don't want to think he has been all alone this whole time trying to raise a kid on his own. He's had it hard enough as it is..."

Another silence reigned over their heads as they each tried to absorb the contents of the picture as best they could while struggling to collect themselves after such a harsh shock.

"She is really adorable," Ino commented about the baby after another moment.

"Yeah she is..."

"And Naruto looks pretty sexy."

"Yeah he does..."

"..."

"..."

"...I can't believe you just said that."

"I can't believe _you_ just said that. You said it first."

"You agreed."

"Damn it."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"We have just caught wind of the Hachibi being captured. I am sure you knew of this before hand," Homura announced coolly to his advisee, leaning back into the couch he and his teammate often occupied when addressing Tsunade. Once again, the man found himself wishing for the strength and powered he once harbored in his youth; the aggravating woman may be halfway through her fifties but she acted like some upstart Jounin most of the time, one that needed to be knocked down a few pegs.

His thought was proven correct as she let out an unladylike snort and crossed her arms.

"Of course I did. I just didn't want to hear you two yapping my ear off again about locating Naruto," the Hokage groused, refusing to look ashamed for intentionally keeping her council uninformed. She had received the update about the Hachibi from Naruto months ago.

"He is the last Jinchuuriki," Koharu responded with annoyance, "The single element that is keeping this terrorist group from furthering their ambitions. You have to understand the position we are in with Madara at the head of Akatsuki. There is no doubt in my mind that he will take Konoha out first. You knew the hatred that he held for your grandfather."

Of course Tsunade knew; the concerning issue crossed her mind many times and often left her yearning for Naruto to return to them from wherever he was. The tables had turned in the last couple of years and it was getting to the time where Konoha wasn't safe _without_ him around.

"Tch. Of course I do," she answered as calmly as she could, "But have a little faith in Naruto; he's not going to let himself get caught so easily. He did defeat the one that found him didn't he? And the information we learned from Zetsu's body was invaluable."

Thanks to Yamanaka Inoichi, they now knew more about Akatsuki than any other major village reconnoitering the organization.

"Regardless, he will now have the entire organization after him, including Madara," Homura replied. "And while it is beneficial that Konoha isn't in the line of fire at the moment, the consequences for our village will be far more severe if they do capture him. Without him with us we can't know what our position is—we need him back in Konoha."

Tsunade closed her eyes against the persistent pounding in her left temple that had been plaguing her for quite some time now.

"And am I to believe Danzo agrees with this?"

Homura and Koharu were both silent and grim faced. The message was clear to the buxom blonde: Danzo was perfectly fine with Naruto not being in Konoha, he just wanted to know where the boy was so that the appropriate tabs could be kept on him. It was no secret between the three of them that the old war-hawk's views on what was best for the village were deviating from their own more and more as of late.

"Heh, I understand," Tsunade said with no uncertain amount of rancor, "But what would you have me do? I don't even know where he is and I have no way to contact him—that was the whole point of this mission in the first place. He has effectively disappeared and taken out the Akatsuki's recon man. At the moment there's no immediate threat, but I do recognize the need to secure his safety."

"So you are saying there is nothing we can do but sit and wait for him to return?" Koharu asked. At the nod she received she added, "And what are the conditions of his return?"

Tsunade looked out the window and sighed, "Whenever he feels strong enough."

"Strong enough for what?"

"Strong enough to protect our village from Akatsuki."

Homura and Koharu shared a weary look.

"That would take him far too long," Koharu argued, "He's been gone two years already and we don't have that kind of time on our hands. We may just be at the brink of war, Tsunade. We need him."

"Especially if Akatsuki will be using the bijuu they collected," Homura added, "he would be the only one with the power to match them."

Tsunade stood and straightened out her jacket with dismissive jerks of her hands. The alcohol that was running through her system had metabolized, leaving her in a more unforgiving state of sobriety.

"You'd be surprised how much he can accomplish in little time," she said, heading for the door, "I'll keep you posted from now on when I receive any word from him."

She left the room before they could protest to her leaving. The situation that Konoha was placed in was an unfortunate one indeed, and she hated being reminded of it. The two old farts held some very good points about why Naruto needed to be back in Konoha, but what did they think she could do about it? What good was it to continue to scold her for sending him off on the mission in the first place? Granted, they didn't know all the details, but she doubted that would have made a difference to their one-track minds.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts a bit. Perhaps she was being too biased. She was the Hokage; she was supposed to put the village's needs above all else for the greater good, yet she was allowing her sensei's old teammates to nag her about such businesses while she appeared to favor Naruto.

The door to her office swung open and her body froze beneath the frame as her eyes surveyed the state her office was in.

"Sakura! Ino!" she barked, looking at all her sake bottles lying out on the floor, "What is the meaning of this?"

She was surprised to find that neither girl reacted very apologetically or frightened by her sharp tone. Instead they gave her blank and weary looks, and in the case of Sakura, a hint of anger.

"Tsunade-sama, we apologize," Ino started out slowly, shooting a sideways glance at her accomplice, "We were just going to hide your sake bottles since you weren't acting very professional. But instead...instead we found..."

Tsunade's eyes followed Ino's gaze to the photo in Sakura's hand and she understood at once. Swallowing, and knowing that she had, in some sense, failed Naruto, she shut the door behind her firmly.

"I suppose you'd like some answers," she began and stepped over the clutter of alcohol to reach her desk. Sakura clutched the picture a little tighter.

"Why shishou?" she asked in a strangled whisper. Now that she had all but solved the mystery her teammate, her emotions were let loose once again as she struggled to come to terms with everything the picture implied, "All this time—I was so scared that something happened to him and all along you've...you've known?"

Why did she feel so betrayed?

Tsunade exhaled though her nose and plopped down in her chair, though not before picking up one of the bottles from the ground, uncorking it and taking a long, warranted swig.

"It's not that simple," she replied, "There was nothing about this mess that was simple. The S-class mission he was sent on had multiple objectives: train to take out the Akatsuki, raise his daughter while keeping her existence under wraps, and keep from being discovered by the Akatsuki until he deems himself powerful enough to protect the village from the organization."

Ino's eyebrows rose as she went over everything she just heard and muttered, "No wonder it's S-class..."

There were parts of it that the blonde didn't understand, of course, but she did know that training to become as powerful, if not more so, than the Akatsuki was a feat in itself, let alone disappearing from them while raising a child.

"B-but...but why wouldn't he say anything before?" Sakura continued, sounding desperate to figure out why she had to be left out of everything, "We were teammates—best friends! You—you don't hide having a kid from your best friend!"

"Not even I knew until the day he came into the hospital with a woman in labor in his arms," Tsunade mollified, "Apparently he was afraid that I would try to take the baby from him if anyone found out about her. I must admit, while at the time I denied it, I can see why he would believe that."

"Yeah," Ino agreed, "I still can't believe you trusted Naruto to raise a kid on his own. Don't you think that was dangerous? For the baby, too, I mean."

Sakura thought Ino brought up a good point and nodded her agreement.

"Naruto lives off of ramen and can barely keep his apartment clean," she added, "What gave you the idea that he would change just for a baby?"

"When it comes to himself, Naruto is pretty lax on his own care," Tsunade agreed,  
"but he always does what he can to make other people happier. That was one reason. Another was because this was his first chance at a real family, something he wanted even more than becoming Hokage; I could tell that he wanted nothing but the best for his daughter—even if it meant breaking bad habits.

"You should have seen the look on his face when he first held her; it wasn't just a baby, Sakura, it was _his_ baby. And Naruto is fiercely protective of her. It was his idea to leave for both the baby and the village's protection. He thought of the entire mission contents in a few minutes and pretty much forced my hand at making it official. Personally, I'm surprised we've made it this far without everything falling to pieces."

"But leaving? Just up and leaving the village?" Ino asked, having as much trouble as Sakura with comprehending all the sudden and outlandish information, "wouldn't it have been better here in the village? We could have protected them!"

Tsunade shook her head.

"There are too many factors that neither of you two are aware of and some of which I'm not at liberty to speak about. Just know that what happened to Kensha—the mother of the child—traumatized him like I've never seen before and having a child brought back painful memories of his own past. He was desperate and afraid and had very little time to collect himself before he had to act. Though, all things considered, he managed himself rather well, thinking of that mission so suddenly."

"Naruto could always think on his feet. It's the planning ahead that he has a problem with," Ino laughed humorlessly.

Sakura bit her lip, having an idea as to what those memories of his entailed, "He's been through worse though, hasn't he? I mean, he always bounces back...he's Naruto...he was okay when he left, right?"

Somehow, she already knew the answer was exactly what she feared it would be.

"Sakura," Tsunade said pityingly, "you really have no idea what this did to him...I don't think I'd ever seen him so terrified. And it wasn't just at the prospect of being a father; that's not even the half of it. When Kensha died he lost faith in his own abilities to protect others, which was a huge problem since now he had a child to protect. Kensha was under his protection and she was killed—most brutally, might I add—and the baby was almost killed. He came that close to losing everything and even now, years later, he's still struggling. In addition to that I believe having the child had shaken him because it revived some of the...harder...times in his childhood. He didn't trust anybody, not me, and not even himself."

"He also has Akatsuki after him..." Sakura pointed out softly. She felt increasingly terrible as more and more of the carefully guarded details came to light. Hearing about the internal anguish Naruto had been going through alone, and without any of his friends knowing, made her feel like she failed him—both as a teammate and a friend. And to think she was content to live a normal teenaged life when Naruto was facing more and more hardships every day.

"Precisely," Tsunade said, "And they have demonstrated that they have no qualms about hurting his family. So that is what called for the S-class mission."

"Why...?" Ino asked.

"I just told you," Tsunade sounded exasperated after just finishing her dialogue. She uncorked the sake bottle and took another swig from the neck, not caring for the impression she was leaving on the two girls.

"No," Ino shook her head, "I mean...why is the Akatsuki after Naruto?"

She was met with a pregnant silence, leaving her confused as to the hidden implications that may lie in her question and aware of its potential significance.

"That is something only Naruto can tell you," the Hokage answered carefully, making brief eye contact with her apprentice. Though, even as she said it she realized that he may never get the opportunity. At the rate things were going now, she herself was probably going to have to reveal to the younger generation of ninjas the details of why the village is being targeted by the Akatsuki. Naruto was old enough to protect himself now, making the third's law void in her eyes; it was high time she started prioritizing the village above him like a true Hokage should.

"He'll be answering to a lot more than that," Sakura promised drawing her shaking hand into a clenched fist.

Now that she had all the facts straight, the young medic-nin began to fall back into a more comfortable and familiar emotion—anger. The last twenty minutes had been extremely upsetting to her. She felt hurt—most likely because Naruto didn't trust her enough to tell her about his daughter—as well as guilty for thinking poorly of him when he was facing so many adversities with no support. She didn't like how she felt at the moment—confused, sick, remorseful, deceived...

What she found especially frightening was the prospect that some of these emotions conflicting within her were due to knowing that Naruto was with a woman, leaving her behind in yet another sense. After all, why should she care what he got up to while he was away? Thinking of him being intimate with a girl should not have left the back of her throat uncomfortably raw and acrid. She dealt with such conflict through anger because it was the only way she knew how to. It was just easier to find an outlet to relieve her of her inner turmoil rather than brood over it.

"You will not give him a hard time when he returns, Sakura," Tsunade said sharply, already knowing what was going through the girl's head. Sakura and Ino stared at her; not once before had Tsunade protested Sakura giving Naruto a piece of her mind. She usually encouraged the discipline, whether it was warranted or not.

"But—but, Shishou! He got a girl _pregnant_!" she stressed and even as she said the word her face got a little red. She knew he had a kid now, but it just occurred to her how that happened...

"Again, that wasn't entirely his fault—" she held up a hand as both young women opened their mouths to protest, "What I mean is, while Naruto shouldn't have been having sex at that age," now Ino was blushing along with Sakura, "He was responsible enough to make sure Kensha was on birth control. He couldn't have foreseen the...the complications with that."

"C-complications?" Ino prompted, intrigued as to how the birth control would have failed.

Tsunade thought carefully on how to word the explanation, "Because of Naruto's unique...regenerative abilities and extraordinary immune system, the birth control was rendered useless against him."

"Wow!" Ino gasped, her eyes widening just a smidge as she sent Sakura a meaningful look, "I didn't know he had those! Is that like a bloodline thingy?"

"It is," Tsunade answered, staring right at her student so that she would get the message, "He would be the first, but it appears his daughter has inherited them as well so it is definitely in his genetics."

Sakura understood; the Kyuubi would have an influence through Naruto's line of descendents. She looked down at the picture in her hand again, focusing on the thin whisker marks that adorned the little girl's cheeks.

"He is not the irresponsible little boy you think he is," Tsunade continued and Sakura looked away from the picture to see honey-brown eyes focused on her, "If anything I wish he still was that same carefree, goofy little kid. But he was hurt greatly by what happened and he doesn't need you stirring up trouble when he has enough drama in his life."

Sakura lowered her eyes, properly berated.

"Yes Shishou."

Ino frowned, glancing at the picture in Sakura's limp hand.

"So is that it?" she asked, "we just keep our mouths shut and wait for Naruto to come back?"

"You'll do more than keep your mouths shut," Tsunade replied with a hard look in her eye, "This mission is so secret that I am not even allowed to know where he is. You are not to talk about this at all, not even in the privacy of your own homes to each other, not even in this room unless I speak of it first. Naruto shouldn't even be brought up in conversation. As for going through my drawers, you will each be limited to two weeks of D-rank missions."

Both girls winced, each feeling that it was a rather harsh punishment for ninja of their caliber. Tsunade hid a grin behind her hand, subtly fishing around in her sake drawer for the other picture she kept. Despite the potential risk to Naruto's mission, she now had someone to show off her pictures too.

"However," both girls lifted their heads, seeing the new photo she waved in her hand, "If he does happen to send anymore photos you are welcome to see them."

As she said this she handed the picture over to Ino; the one with Naruto and his baby sleeping, belly to belly.

"Awww! That is so cute!" Ino squealed, bringing her face close to the laminated surface and squinting at the snoozing duo. "How long ago was this?"

"I believe Hitomi was about a month old," the woman replied, smiling at the silly blushes both girls had across their cheeks at this point.

"That's her name?" Sakura asked, managing to tear her eyes away from the moment on film to glance at her teacher, "Hitomi?"

"Mmm," Tsunade hummed, "Apparently, the story behind that was that Kensha was hoping the baby would inherit Naruto's eyes. And she did."

"He does have really beautiful eyes," Sakura commented softly, almost nostalgically, bringing the more recent photo up into the light. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't stop her eyes from wandering over to Naruto's face and raking over the defined and aged features. It was almost sad how mature he looked for his age; especially considering he had always been the baby of their group of friends.

"Oh yeah," Ino agreed, staring back at the two pairs of cerulean blue, "And she totally did get them too. Lucky girl. Ooooh, I can't wait for him to get back!"

Sakura looked taken aback by the sudden—and shrill—declaration.

"Ino?"

"I want to see the baby soooo bad now! And I bet he's a great dad, you can totally tell by these pictures," the blonde yakked, waving the picture in her hand a bit and building up her excitement. Tsunade smiled warmly at her, the mind-walker earning a few brownie points for her favorable statements.

"And it's just so cool that he can regenerate! I can't believe I never knew that! I don't think our friends do either...I wonder why he never said anything before? Why didn't _you_ say anything before, Billboard-brow? Oh well, it's still cool—especially the fact that he has super-sperm."

Tsunade snorted into her sake bottle while Sakura blanched and stumbled against the desk, "_I-Ino!_"

Her friend laughed at the klutzy motion, "Oh, please, Forehead. You know you were thinking it too. Kind of a pity though...he'll be stuck using condoms unless he wants more kids."

Tsunade laughed outright—half at the proclamation and half at Sakura's deep red face.

"W-what are you even saying? Stop saying stuff like that about Naruto!"

"Oh, what do you care about it?" Ino asked her appraisingly, "You made it obvious you're not interest in him."

Sakura gaped at her.

"Th-that—that wasn't even—!"

"Alright, alright," Tsunade cut in, wanting to avoid a pointless spat in her office while wondering at the lengths teenage girls would go to just to piss each other off. "You two, out of here. I'm expecting you both to report here tomorrow morning for your first D-ranked mission."

"Yes Hokage-sama," they chorused together.

"Don't forget to tell us about anymore updates!" Ino said cheekily as she bowed and left the room.

Sakura bowed as well before storming out of the office, no doubt to catch up to Ino and give her a proper piece of her mind.

Tsunade shook her head bemusedly as she began to load up her next glass of sake. Maybe Naruto _was_ safer out of Konoha.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

And the truth is out!

Sorry about the delay, my beta has gone MIA and I was whisked away to Ithaca for the weekend. Nooooo more wine for me.

For those who were wondering, the thing with Hachibi/Killerbee is going to follow cannon as well; I'm just making so that the Akatsuki was thoroughly deceived...for the moment.

I don't know if Ino and the other's know about Naruto's 'condition'. After all, he had to _tell_ Sakura after time skip, so she obviously didn't know, and yet when he prances around with his demonly features and its common knowledge that the Akatsuki are targeting him specifically, no one seems to ask any questions. Not to mention Shippuuden totally fucks with your mind in respects to that. Ah well.

Thank you all soooooo much for the reviews! I was totally blown away by them (and yes, that review button works splendidly as it turns out, but I think we need to keep it working just in case).

Next chap: The Uzumaki family gets a new family member.

Release your excitement on the big green button!


	12. No more NOes!

**Chapter 12**

**THWACK**

"Ugh—!"

Naruto grunted as the butt end of a thick bō staff struck him in the solar plexus, pushing the air from his lungs with a harsh brutality. While glaring at the clone who managed the lucky hit, the blonde knew that there was only himself to blame for leaving an opening like that. Not even wasting time to massage the sore area, he returned the blow tenfold using Stick; shooting his slicing chakra into his offending double and watching as it popped out of existence.

A second later he had parried a strike from behind as another clone took the place of the first. The power he channeled through Stick was enough to snap the makeshift bō in half, leaving the clone once wielding it temporarily defenseless. Naruto winced as the remains of the crafted weapon bobbed along the surface of the river. He had carved a handful of practice bō staffs out of the remaining wood from his newly finished back-deck. But with the way he was running through his small supply he would soon have to make more.

One of the blondes within the small crowd used a chakra-enhanced sweep of its bō to send a small explosion of water at the original as well as his opponents, forcing them all to back off. Naruto spun Stick around in his hand swiftly, creating a wind-coated helicopter effect that deflected any of the chilled water directed at him. As he watched the repelled water return to the river with the ripples along the surface spreading beneath his feet, an idea flitted through his mind for a new type of offensive attack. Naruto glanced down at the branch-turned-weapon in his hand and then back at the several replicas facing him off. He smirked.

Stick was spun once again between nimble fingers, but this time he held it over his head, picking up momentum and gathering wind-chakra to leak out at each end of his weapon, creating twin scythe-like projections. Through sheer concentration he gathered the chakra radiated outside of his body and used it to manipulate Stick into spinning faster and faster until its small weight was lessened in his grip and all that was visible was a brown, circular blur hovering above his head.

"Alright, let's see how this turns out!" he yelled before launching the spinning weapon like a giant shuriken and watching as it hurdled towards the mass of Narutos. The area was immediately filled with cries and plumes of smoke as the large, sharp projectile flew through its opponents with minimal resistance. The angle and force at which stick was thrown had it flying with a slight curvature similar to that of a boomerang, allowing it to knick nearly all who tried to dodge it.

Naruto's wide grin at his successful on-the-fly attack faltered as Stick continued on its way even after it bypassed the few clones remaining and crashed into a large boulder a ways down the river, slicing a good three feet into it. Anyone who possessed the observational skills would have noticed a few runic symbols briefly light up along the bark, preventing the stick from exploding upon impact as any other would.

Naruto could feel a bead of sweat drip down the side of his face as he watched Stick fall back from the collision and lay motionless on the ground.

"Uh...come back...Stick...?"

Crap. He should probably look into that retrieval bit.

Meanwhile, young Hitomi was seated comfortably on the river bank a safe distance away from her father(s). A small rock bearing a painted smiley face and a doll missing one arm were each held limply in a hand as she watched the several images of her father spar with sticks. It was quite a sight for her young eyes, better than any show on television by far. Not that she had gotten to watch much TV in her short life; the only TV she'd ever encountered was the one at Juhi-baachan's.

"Ha! Not so tough with your precious 'Stick' now, are you?" one of the few clones remaining taunted with his hands positioned on his hips in a cocky pose reminiscent of Yasei. His twin next to him walloped the back of his head nearly hard enough to cause a dispelling.

"You idiot," the other scowled to the groaning clone, "You don't underestimate your opponent just because he's lost his weapon!"

"Aw, come on! He never lets us use Stick! It's always those damn bō staffs while he get's the cool one!"

"That's because he's the original you dolt! It's not like we can utilize stick as well—!"

Naruto pinched the space between his eyes as they bickered on in the background.

"There's one in every batch," he muttered to himself, referring to the one clone that seemed to exude the more brazen aspect of his younger personality.

Using the multi-shadow clone technique as often as he did, and at his particular intensity, brought to his attention the extent to how advanced the technique really was. In fact, it was rather amusing how, even after years of its use, he was still discovering things about the technique. Even Kakashi, who had been the person to inform Naruto of the shadow clones' informational advantages, had never mentioned the correlation between chakra mass and clone complexity. Which led him to the conclusion that Kakashi didn't know this; either because no one has shared this information before (possible), or because no one had enough experience in the jutsu to discover it (most likely).

So, with no prior knowledge or resources to rely on, this meant, as per usual, he had to learn the hard way. Due to his extraordinary chakra reserves that seemed to grow endlessly, all of his clones were created out of huge quantities of chakra—in spite of each one only being a fraction of his original reserve. Over time, as their individual chakra masses grew, each clone he created seemed to develop more compound personalities. Or, to be more specific, each one could bear certain aspects of _his_ personality. Even parts that he thought he had buried deep within his mind.

Rolling his eyes at his still bickering doubles Naruto released the chakra rotating on the bottom of his feet and dropped below the surface of the river.

The two clones paused, the sudden movement catching their attention.

"Did he just...?"

One of the more silent clones bleakly pointed downward.

"Aw, what the he—aah!"

Naruto hand had shot up from below and planted itself on the disturbed water, lifting the rest of his body with astounding upper-body strength and sweeping both legs horizontally, knocking out the legs of the annoying clone.

The clone cried out as it suddenly found itself falling backwards. Naruto flipped his body upwards, shifting his weight onto his other hand to allow his second-long handstand to be reversed and swing his body back down, landing a chakra-spiked heel into the gut of the still-falling clone. The clone let out a small 'oof' and dispelled just as Naruto released all chakra once again, returning to his sanctuary within the water.

"That's not cool," one of the three remaining clones muttered as he watched his brother get taken down in a sneak attack.

Another shrugged, "No mercy for the weak..."

"Ut-oh!" Hitomi gasped, bringing her little fists to her mouth as her blue eyes widened dramatically. The clones immediately turned their interest to the toddler.

"What is it?" once asked in concern, motioning to approach.

He barely took a step towards the baby when the river exploded beneath their feet. The massive upward rush of water blinded their vision as well as shield Naruto from their view, allowing him ample time to strike down two more clones with killing blows. As the water fell heavily back into its bed, the river was left with only three identical and soaking wet men on its surface.

Before the spar could commence, the remote area was suddenly filled with Hitomi's squeals and clapping from the stray spray of water that sprinkled down on her. The three remaining blondes turned their attention to the damp toddler that was struck with an incurable fit of giggles by her wet clothing.

"Oh sorry hunny," one laughed sheepishly, making his way off the river's surface and leaving the other two to fight, "Daddy didn't mean to do that."

He bent down to pick her up but she dodged his hands with astounding agility for a two-year-old, instead running to the edge of the river with her arms stretched towards the Naruto on the left.

"Uppy, daddy! Uppy!"

The clone behind her could only stare dumbfounded, reflecting the looks the other identicals had on their faces.

Shrugging, the real Naruto made his way off of his training surface, dispelling his other clones and obliging Hitomi by picking her up. She seemed quite pleased with herself for getting his attention back on her.

"Tomi...how did you know which one was me?" Naruto asked, still baffled as to how she knew he had sent a clone to placate her.

"I see you!" she replied happily and poked him hard in the chest.

"Yes, but...never mind," he shook his head, knowing that getting her to elaborate would be like pulling teeth. There was only one way he could know for sure if that was a fluke or not, "Hitomi, I'm going to put you down and I want you to close your eyes. This is a game, so don't open them until I say, okay?"

"Ah-tay!" she responded enthusiastically, allowing him to slide her back to the ground without fuss and closing her eyes.

Naruto silently created a number of shadow clones and had them run around her in a circle. When they stopped he was directly to the right of her.

"Okay, open your eyes now."

A brilliant shade of blue was revealed as Hitomi blinked her eyes open to see a number of her fathers surrounding her.

"Now which one is the real me?" Naruto and all his clones said as one. Hitomi immediately turned to the right.

"I see you daddy!" she giggled, pleased with herself, and ran into his arms. This only served to leave him even more confused than before. He lowered himself to her level, subconsciously dispelling all the other clones.

"Baby, how can you see me?" he asked her again.

"Blue!" she chirped happily, patting just above where his heart was. "You blue!"

He knew that even if his daughter was somehow seeing his chakra, it was impossible to tell the difference with the shadow clone jutsu—the chakra running through each circulatory system was identical and in equal amounts. Perhaps this was something all babies could do? Or maybe it was something from the Kyuubi. It looked like he would just have to ask.

"Daddy's going to meditate now," he said to her, "You can play in the tree, ok?"

"Yah-yah!"

She tore away from him and took a running start at the nearest tree on the forest's edge. Two feet before reaching the trunk she leapt, her little claws digging into the bark several feet off the ground. She began to shimmy up the tree, kicking down many woodchips as she scrambled from branch to branch.

Naruto shook his head at the peculiar sight but smiled nonetheless. That was his crazy baby and he loved her.

He settled himself at the base of the tree Hitomi was in and closed his eyes, mentally pulling himself into the seal with practiced ease. In no time at all the imposing bars that held the most fearsome beast to date were directly before him.

"Why can Hitomi "see" me?" he asked bluntly to the hulking shape just barely visible in the dim lighting of the cage.

There was silence for a moment and Naruto had to wonder if he was being ignored or if the Kyuubi just hadn't heard him.

"**Pathetic worm,"** Kyuubi finally snorted and turned away from him. Naruto frowned at the snub.

"What the hell is your problem?" he snapped and the second the words left his mouth the demon let out a fearsome roar that rattled the bars, so loud that he was afraid someone outside his body could hear it. The Kyuubi slammed its face against its cage, snapping his jaws and scratching its claws ruthlessly along the iron.

"_**YOU**_** ARE MY PROBLEM! YOU AND THIS DAMNABLE SEAL!"**

Now that its face was in the light, Naruto was able to see several patches of its fur had thinned greatly, some places even taking a grey tinge. The demon looked aged and tired and, dare he say, sick?

"Woah...what the hell?" Naruto mumbled, his eyes widening as bloodshot rubies narrowed down at him.

"**Damn you!"** the Kyuubi vented, **"Damn you and that blasted father of yours!"**

"The seal?" Naruto asked as understanding dawned on him. He knew that it was only the Yin of Kyuubi's chakra that was sealed within him, and that the key to the dark side was accessible but unwilling to be used at the moment. He also knew that the seal was designed to absorb the Kyuubi's light chakra over time.

It had clearly already begun.

"**The inactivity of my chakra has allowed the seal to continue with its purpose. It doesn't help that the constant exercise of your own chakra has caused your reserves to overwhelm whatever I have pushed into your body..."**

There was so much bitterness and contempt in the deep voice that Naruto nearly felt bad for the Kyuubi. Nearly.

"You were counting on me encountering the Akatsuki weren't you?" he asked the larger being quietly, "the more I used your chakra before it was absorbed, the more you could break down the seal...keh, bastard. Serves you right."

A low growl rumbled around the cavern, but Naruto wasn't intimidated in the least.

"Can you at least answer my question?" he asked irritably. "How is it that Hitomi can see who I am among my clones? Not even a Hyuuga could tell the difference."

"**Isn't it obvious?"** Kyuubi spat, **"She is seeing your aura, weakling."**

"My...aura...?"

"**Something you should be able to do as well, as a demonic being," **the demon continued in a condescending voice, **"Even human infants are able to see auras just as clearly as any spiritual being, it isn't until they are grown that they lose their sight because of the close-minded teachings of your adults."**

"But, then...wouldn't my clones have auras too?"

"**FOOL!"** the Kyuubi boomed, unable to believe what he was hearing, **"You cannot split your soul as you do with your chakra! Unbelievable..."**

Naruto ignored the criticism, "So…how would I see auras?"

Another snort of contempt rippled the water around his feet.

"**You already can, useless half-breed. You don't even realize it because of your sheer stupidity. How do you honestly expect to raise my heir accordingly if you can't even teach her how to harness her abilities? Your incompetency will get you and the kit killed, just like you did her mother."**

"Fuck you!" Naruto bit out; his temper was finally getting the better of him after hearing the beast's endless taunts, "Fine! If you won't tell me, I'll just figure it out on my own! _God!_ I don't know why you're so pissed at me! You were the one who was pushing me to get stronger!"

"**I meant with MY chakra you idiot!"**

"Tch, whatever."

Naruto left the seal, unable to tolerate the pissy laments of a condemned demon any longer. He opened his eyes to see the unexpected sight of Hitomi's little feet dangling in front of his face.

"W-what the...?"

He followed the feet upward to see the rest of his daughter hanging off a branch just overhead; the claws that were digging into the bark appeared to be the only thing that was keeping her from falling on him.

"Hi-ya hi-ya!" she laughed, kicking her feet at him and wiggling her toes. It was amazing that she had the upper body strength at just two years to carry her whole weight like that.

Naruto laughed as well and stood, grabbing her around the middle and tickling her mercilessly until she let go only to drop into his arms. One day he would have to just let her fall so she would know the dangers of playing so recklessly first hand. But that would not be today.

Today he had an errand to run. He would never admit it to the Kyuubi, but between the insults and threats, that beast brought up some very good points. Points that certainly needed to be investigated.

"Come on," he said, lifting her above his head so that she was seated on his shoulders, "We're going to the library."

"Aw poo..."

Like father, like daughter indeed.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Naruto's bout at the library turned out to be quite brief. He only ended up checking out a couple of books on demon lore and the different properties of youki (because he really did need to know what was happening with him and his daughter, and given the demon fox's current mood, he was not going to be getting any help from the bijuu). He didn't even need to check out any books on the theories of auras. After twenty minutes of skimming through a couple of aura-sensing instructions and he realized that—as loathe as it was to admit it, even in his head—the Kyuubi was right; he could already see auras. He just never realized what they were.

If what he gathered was correct, he had been subconsciously suppressing the sight by trying to fit in with society. Throughout his childhood, no one else had ever mentioned seeing specific colors around individuals so, to Naruto's young mind, it only seemed right that he shouldn't either—just as the Kyuubi had implied.

Reinitiating himself to the ability only took a bit of meditating—something he had become quite apt at over the years. It was almost laughable when he thought back to just a couple years ago, when he would have rather run around the village a thousand times with Rock Lee than do something as boring as meditating. Nowadays, though, he found it to be very relaxing and a much needed exercise after spending a day with Hitomi—who was becoming quite the handful at her new age of 28 months.

He could sense her—his daughter—several yards into the woods and no doubt high in some tree, solely by tracking her aura. Taking the time to look a little deeper into aura reading also left him with the realization that his ability to sense others via aura rather than chakra was the more prudent skill to have. Chakra could be manipulated, hidden and split where as the soul was bound to a living person and unable to manipulate—yet another thing that the Kyuubi had said. Living for hundreds of years apparently leaves one quite knowledgeable; perhaps if the beast were a little less of an ass and a little more forthcoming with information, he wouldn't have to teach himself so many things

It was a bright, November afternoon and the air was just beginning to turn crisp. At the moment Naruto was stretched out on the deck he had built that summer, facing the forest just beyond his yard with a scroll unraveled on his lap. It had been a gift from the toads for him to study until he was ready to begin his sage training; he had explained his entire situation to Fukasaku a while back, giving the old toad a proper excuse as to why he originally dismissed the training. Fukasaku was very understanding and promised to take Naruto as an apprentice when Hitomi was old enough to stay under the care of someone else.

The scroll Naruto was presented with spoke of the elements, not in relation to chakra but as they were in nature. He found it fascinating, enlightening even, the properties of wind unbound to anything but its own temperament. He had long since lost the desire to learn another element, especially after breaching the limit of finesse that any other shinobi has ever managed (to his knowledge) with elemental manipulation. Why be good at two elements, when he could be the best at one? He wanted to be the first _true_ wind master. And not just by utilizing his chakra, but by using nature's, as the toads practiced.

"_Wind is the immortal element,"_ Naruto read in complete rapture,_ "Unlike fire that can be smothered, earth that can crumble, water that can evaporate, and lightening which can be negated, wind is the existence that all of man strives for. The wind is the Earth's messenger; it connects the world through every other element, gathering the wisdom of a thousand lives. It is the element of emotion, always being felt yet never seen..."_

The more Naruto read about the element of wind, the more fascinated he became with it.

_"...true wind can dominate all other elements..."_

Every tidbit he learned about its true nature brought forth a dozen different ideas on how to incorporate the element into battle.

"_Earth is wind's opposite. There is no sway between these elements as wind has with lighting and fire or the earth with lightening and water. The wind will always try to move the mountains and the earth will always try to tame the wind. They balance each other out. Understanding this concept will allow—"_

The quickened sound of rustling grass broke through the peaceful setting of his backyard.

Naruto looked up from the scroll as he heard his daughter's tiny, yet heavy, footfalls climbing up the deck steps with excitement.

"Hey ba—," his greeting smile faltered and the scroll rolled right out of his lap once he actually saw what she had brought in from the woods.

"Kitty," Hitomi said happily, squeezing the struggling little animal with a one-armed head-lock and forcing it to endure her pets.

In her arms was something dark and fuzzy, with short pointed ears atop its head, a long bushy tail, four legs, claws, tiny fangs peeking out from a bit of a pointed snout and—_dear God, she was holding a baby fisher cat!_

"Hitomi," Naruto started out slowly, using her full name to emphasis that he was completely serious, "Put that down, now."

"No!" she cried, squeezing the wild animal even harder, "mine!"

"Don't say _no_ to me!" Naruto snapped, "Put it down now!"

"It mine!" Hitomi insisted, taking a step back closer to the porch steps, "My baby!"

"No, it's someone else's baby. You can't take a baby away from its mommy. Would you like it if someone took you away from me? Now put it down."

"No," Hitomi said again and Naruto quickly became annoyed with her arguing.

"Yes."

"It was awoney!"

"You don't know that."

"Yuss!"

"Enough arguing Hitomi!" Naruto raised his voice, startling the toddler, "You let that thing go, right now!"

Hitomi hesitated, tying to look defiant but too scared to challenge her father any more.

"Hitomi...Put. It. Down. _Now_."

Reluctantly, her pudgy little arms fell limp, and the young animal scurried away and back towards the forest the second it gained freedom. Hitomi watched her pet go, tears welling in her eyes as her bottom lip trembled.

"Come on," Naruto muttered, grabbing her beneath her armpits and hauling her up to rest on his hip, "now we need to wash your hands. Those things are dirty you know."

Hitomi didn't like that she couldn't keep her pet and she didn't like that her father had raised his voice to her; she began to wail loudly.

"Oh, stop that," the young man commanded as he entered the kitchen. He tried to keep a firm stance in his displeasure with her—after all, she couldn't get in the habit of defying him whenever she thought she could get away with it—but he really did hate it when she cried.

He sat her down on a piece of counter next to the sink and grabbed a washcloth from a towel rack hanging above. Wetting it under the running faucet he began to wipe off her hands, even as she continued to bawl.

"Hey, Look at me," he said, brushing some of her unruly bangs from her face. She kept on crying but he could see a piece of blue reflecting back at him as she squinted through her tears, "I'm sorry I had to yell at you but you can't say 'no' to me like that, you hear? Do you understand that, Hitomi?"

"B-buh-buh—I want-t t-tah babeeey!" she finished in a wail, her tears starting up again. Naruto sighed and picked her back up, bouncing her a little on his hip.

"That was a fisher cat, honey," he reasoned, trying to get her to shush, "They're very dangerous and mean. You can't have one as a pet. You could get boo-boos."

She continued to wail, shaking her head and refusing to listen, her tantrum showing no signs of letting up.

"Okay, you know what? You need a nap," Naruto decided with finality and began a steady trek up the stairs with the struggling girl.

"NO!"

"_Hey! _Don't say _no_ to me!"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

As it turned out, a nap was exactly what Hitomi needed. The youngster woke up two hours after her tantrum (which lasted far beyond after Naruto shut her in her room) with a much more pleasant disposition. She even drew him a picture of a colorful blob next to another colorful blob on a scribble of green. He suspected he was one of the blobs.

That incident was months ago and the fisher hadn't been mentioned since. Of course, this could have been due to Hitomi's lack of time in the forest. For her tantrum, she was not allowed to go in the woods for the next two days as punishment. In addition to that, she had just started pre-school halfway through the school year; leaving little time for her to romp in the woods.

School was only a few hours long every morning, but just being around kids her own age had Hitomi wanting to stay after school to play in the park with her new friends. If that meant switching her attention from befriending wild animals to befriending humans, Naruto wasn't going to complain.

Personally, he thought she may have been a bit young to start school already, but everyday she would insist on going to school like the kids she saw playing on the jungle gym in the schoolyard. Naruto was against it at first, thinking she should wait another year and, perhaps, not willing to let her go just yet. But Hitomi was quite intelligent for a two year old, as well as adamant (much like her father), and eventually Naruto decided he could certainly use the child-free time.

Initially, he thought she would be the one having a hard time spending time away from him, but as it turned out Hitomi easily communicated with others around her; she had a very outgoing personality and could strike up conversation with any kid that happened to be sitting next to her. He, on the other hand, was surprised at how difficult it was to leave his child in the care of another person, no matter for how little time. Having Juhi watch her every now and then was different; he trusted the woman with his life and she was practically family. But leaving his baby with a group of strangers was unsettling to him.

The pre-school teacher, Tomeru-san, was very patient in answering all his questions (Do they get snacks? Do they go outside? For how long? Are they always supervised? Etc.) and assured him that it was very normal for first-time parents to have a hard time letting go. It had gotten easier as time went on, though even to this day he felt a small tug at his heart every time he walked away from the one-story building.

Naruto knew he would return to Konoha (hopefully) before Hitomi was seven so she would then get the opportunity to transfer to the ninja academy if she so chose to. A few years ago, he would have been adamant about having all of his children become great ninjas like himself; now that he was a father, he found he wouldn't mind it at all if she decided not to be a ninja. Though something in the back of his mind told him that the opportunity to legally kick someone's ass was something she wouldn't pass up—that and she was always trying to imitate him when she watched him train.

Speaking of training...

The roaring waterfall at his designated training area rose before him in a loud rush of cerulean and white. He was now standing atop the river at its base, his bare feet disturbing the surface of the water and spreading ripples outwards, his naked torso receiving heavy sprays from the close proximity of the fall.

He craned his neck upwards, following the fall that stood dozens of feet high and eyeing the rock that was large enough to visibly break through the cascade about three-quarters of the way up. That was his destination.

He closed his eyes, beginning to gather his chakra in his palms and balls of his feet and getting a good spin on it in an upward motion.

"Okay...breath and..."

He pounced, landing about ten feet high on the waterfall with his hands and feet connecting to the heavily flowing water. He slid down a few feet at first, the potent water flow pushing him downward, but by strengthening the power on his palms and feet he managed to keep his place. Running the chakra in the opposite direction of the flow of water enable him to cancel out the pressure and gravity working against him and stick to the water much like he could stick to a tree. It was kind of like water walking in the sense of keeping his chakra moving, except he had to generate the chakra faster and more accurately. This show of skills was a testament to how far his chakra control had developed—the one thing he had focused the most on in the last two years. He could _totally_ rival Tsunade now.

Naruto began his slow scale up the waterfall, careful to keep his chakra at just the right pace; one slip up and he would find himself submerged in the river faster than Hitomi could disappear at bath time. Within a minute he had reached the protruding rock, clambering on top with enough room for him to comfortably stand. It was a bit mossy and slippery, most likely from constantly being wet, but that didn't stop him from jumping around with his cheers.

"Hot damn, I am _so_ good!"

Taking one hand and thrusting it backwards towards the fall, he effortlessly shot a strong line of wind chakra from his palm. The deafening thunder of the waterfall hitting the river was temporarily silenced as the fall was cut clean in half with practiced ease in seconds, revealing a wall of wet, slimy rock.

Naruto grinned at his handiwork. If only Kakashi-sensei and Yamato-sensei could see him now.

Removing his hand and releasing the cut, the waterfall resumed its course and Naruto raced the load of water to its destination by diving down along with it.

"Whoohoo!" he cried along with his back flip off of the ledge. He dived into the river below, resurfacing and shaking his hair out with a laugh. It was in the middle of February and the cold water shocked his body for his foolishness—though it hardly bothered him. He slowly plodded out of the river, the weight of his water-logged pants making it more difficult.

"Hmm, should have taken these off," he noted with distain before shrugging and picking up his shirt on his way off the training grounds.

Speeding through the trees, he managed to make it back to his yard with enough time to change his clothes before he went to pick up his daughter from preschool. Maybe he could fit in a hot shower as well; he had goose bumps rising up and down both arms from the cold river water being air dried.

Naruto mentally ran over all of his latest progress in the training area. Seeing auras was a now a breeze, as was utilizing wind chakra from any surface of his body. He was still working on using mediums when directing chakra with the exception of Stick, which was quickly becoming an extension of his arm. His taijutsu had improved and he had made leaps and bounds with his chakra control. The constant use of his specialized shadow clones running around and keeping up the spy-network had forced his own chakra reserves to continue to grow, as well as the capacity his chakra canals could hold.

However, it was still difficult to accurately measure his progress against himself. With no other ninja around he had no one he could compare himself to unless he ran into another Akatsuki guy.

Speaking of which, the Akatsuki had been strangely quiet as of late. He hadn't heard of any activity on their part since team Hawk had captured the eight-tails quite a while back. It made him nervous.

His musings had brought him to his back porch, just in time for him to gain more awareness of his surroundings and bring himself to a sudden stop.

Naruto couldn't believe it.

There, sitting on the porch step, was the baby fisher Hitomi had dragged out of the woods a couple months ago. It spotted him, yet didn't show any desire to move from its seat, even as Naruto approached it.

"Go," he shooed, waving his hands at it and startling it enough so that it scurried back several feet, "Go back to the woods!"

It stared at him again, looking as though it couldn't understand him.

"You can't trick me," Naruto said while giving it the stink eye, "You may look like a cute little animal, but I know better. You're vicious!"

The fisher cocked its head to the side, the tiny, rounded ears perking.

Naruto opened his mouth to yell at it some more before he realized what he was doing.

"Holy crap, I'm talking to an animal..."

He shook his head, clearing from it all the absurdity of the situation before continuing on his way into the house. He stopped just as he reached the door and turned back to the fisher who was staring at him with little, glassy eyes.

"You better be gone when I get back," he threatened, "Or...or else!"

He shut the door in its face to emphasize his point and headed upstairs for a change of clothes. He had a pre-schooler to pick up.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Daaaadeeeeey!"

"Hey, you!" Naruto laughed, catching his daughter as she launched herself at him the second he came into view. There were many other parents around him retrieving their own children along with several toddlers still sitting restlessly on the front steps of the building, waiting for their relief. "Have fun?"

"Yee-aah-ha!" she yelled, jerking her body in his arms as she kicked her legs, "I haff uh new fwiend!"

"You have a new friend?" Naruto asked, pleasantly surprised. "Who?"

"LEE-LEE!" the little blonde all but screamed, violently pointing to a frail looking girl who was waiting quietly on the steps for her parents. "Lee-Lee" looked extremely alarmed that Hitomi was talking to her so suddenly and hid her head between her knees.

"Don't yell so much, Tomi," Naruto chided lightly, smiling kindly at the mousy child. He shifted Hitomi on his hip to help distribute her weight a little and took a step towards the girl.

"Hello," he said quietly, "I'm Hitomi's dad. What's your name?"

She peeked up at him from behind her legs, with large, dark eyes before turning her cheek and closing them. Her meek behavior reminded him of how Sakura used to be in the beginning of her academy days.

Naruto chucked lightly at her bashfulness and said, "That's okay, you don't have to answer. But it was nice meeting you, 'Lee-Lee'."

"Lee-Lee" opened one eye and glanced at Naruto, who had turned his attention to his boisterous daughter, telling her to settle down.

"L-leela," her voice all but whispered and she ducked down again as he drew his focus back on her.

"Leela," Naruto repeated, "That's a pretty name. You should come over and play with Hitomi sometime."

"Yeee-aaah!" Hitomi cheered, kicking her feet again and managing to glance her father's side with her foot.

"Hitomi, calm down," he grunted as he rubbed his surprisingly sore ribs. That girl had almost as much kick as Tsunade.

"Uzumaki-san!"

Naruto turned around bewildered at the voice of the preschool teacher.

"Oh. Hello Tomeru-san," he smiled. The woman looked to be in her mid-forties, tall and thin, with thick, ovular glasses and wispy, black hair pulled in a bun. She was actually quite nice and somehow could understand what Hitomi was saying almost as well as he could when the toddler got into her babbling moods. "What can I do for you?"

She reached him while wearing a kind smile, "Actually I wanted to talk to you about Hitomi."

Naruto tried not to cringe.

"Did she misbehave?" he asked, already sounding apologetic while he glanced at his all too innocent looking daughter at his side.

'_Please tell me she behaved,'_ he pleaded mentally. It wasn't that Hitomi had behavioral problems per say...she just sometimes had a hard time conforming to appropriate human conduct. Not the most fun thing to try and explain.

"Well...I wouldn't say she misbehaved. But she did manage to eat a good portion of a box of crayons..."

"What?!" Naruto cried. He looked at Hitomi, who looked back at him with an expression of pure bewilderment, as though she hadn't the faintest of what was going on.

"Open your mouth," he commanded her. She did, thinking it was a fun game, and he used his finger to lift back her upper lip for a better look. Sure enough, he could see bits of colored wax stuck to her incisors and canines.

"Hitomi! Did you eat crayons?"

"No," she said blatantly.

"Don't lie," he said sternly and frowned, "I can see it in your teeth. Time for you to go down."

"No!" she cried, clinging to the shoulders of his shirt, not wanting to have to stand on her own after being separated from her father for hours.

"Yes," he growled as he pried her claws from the fabric and set her down on the ground. He kept a strong grip on her hand to keep her from running off and getting into more mischief.

He turned to the teacher and gave a little bow, "I am so sorry, Tomeru-san! I'll buy you some more crayons."

The woman waved off his apology, "Oh it's not a problem, we have plenty more. Children put things in their mouth all the time...though usually not to this extent. I only told you in case you wanted to take her to a doctor. I'm not sure how much wax a child can eat without getting sick. Gave one of my aids quite the scare when she came over to Hitomi's table to see a box of half-eaten crayons!"

"Yeah, maybe a head-doctor," Naruto muttered, giving his baby-girl the sternest glare he could muster...which, incidentally, wasn't very stern at all. The teacher laughed and Naruto grinned tiredly.

"Well thank you for telling me this, Tomeru-san."

"It's perfectly all right. And please, call me Hiroko."

"Naruto," he replied in turn. After another small farewell he began the ten minute walk home, Hitomi toddling along with him, begging to be picked up again.

"Such a sweet boy," Hiroko said to one of her aids who had just saddled up along side of her. It was an older woman who had been assisting her for many years.

"Hmm," her companion hummed in agreement, "Sometimes I forget he's only...what? Eighteen?"

"Yes. You know, his daughter is still two years old."

"Is she now?" the aid looked startled; "I thought she was a bit small for her age. But other than that you wouldn't know."

"Yes, she is quite intelligent, isn't she? Much more cognitive than most her age, at any rate."

"Bet she's going to drive her poor father insane when she's older."

"Older? I think she's driving him insane now!"

And the two women shared a laugh, not realizing that Naruto—despite being far down the street by this point—could hear everything they said and was laughing along with them. They didn't know how right they were.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"EEH, BEE, SEE, DEE, EEE, EFFE, GEEE...!"

Naruto couldn't keep the grin off his face as he watched his daughter spin around in their backyard, singing her new song for him. She was too adorable for words.

"...HAY-CHE, AYE, JAY, KAY...!"

Though he had to wonder why she couldn't recite the alphabet without screaming it.

"ENM, EMM, ENM, NAM PEEEEE!"

"Wait...what?" Naruto snapped to attention, the enchanting spell that his daughter cast over him broken by her incoherent babble. She plowed on, far too enthralled with the song she learned at school that week.

"QUE, ARRR, ESSSSSSSSSSS! TEE YUUUUU VEEEEEE!" with every letter she would stamp her feet on the ground, "DUMBA VU, EX! WHY AND ZEEEE!"

"What comes next?" Naruto prompted with a small smile.

"Now I know mah EEEH, BEE, SEEEEES! Next time won' you sing wiff MEEEE!"

"Yay!" Naruto cheered, clapping with enthusiasm, much to Hitomi's pleasure. He couldn't help but be proud of her, despite certain butchered parts of the alphabet. She wasn't even three years old and she was already learning her ABCs. He recalled that he didn't manage to learn it until he was about four. Though he never had a father to practice with him...

"Again!" Hitomi cheered and without waiting for him to agree began her next rendition of the alphabet—screaming, stomping, twirling and all.

The toddler was in a surprisingly good mood considering the small fit she threw twenty minutes ago about having to wear shoes outside. Naruto himself wasn't wearing any at the moment, but as it was still March he decided that the ground was simply too cold for him to allow her to run around barefoot...even if he knew it wouldn't faze her in the slightest.

"Daddy! Look!"

Naruto hadn't realized he had tuned out his daughter's "singing" until her voice broke his thoughts again. Hitomi was standing in the center of their yard, looking quite pleased with herself, and at her feet was none other than...

"You again!" Naruto cried, jumping off the steps at the sight of the returning fisher cat.

The black and brown mammal took a few steps closer to Hitomi, who cooed and patted its head.

"Hitomi, don't touch it!"

"Buh, daddy, he liiiiiiikes me!"

Naruto was about to start shouting again before he took a good look at what was happening before him. The animal was allowing Hitomi to pet it (rather hard) on its head and showed no signs of mistrust or discomfort. It had even been manhandled by the two year old and still it kept returning. It was like the fisher really didn't see him or Hitomi as threats; it wasn't treating them like humans. Was the Kyuubi, in part, responsible for this?

The older blonde frowned, looking at the admittedly cute animal, "Do you really like that kind of abuse? Get out of here, will you?"

But it didn't budge.

"Daddy, can I keep him, puh-weease?" Hitomi begged, going as far as to get on her knees and hug the animal around the neck in a death grip. Naruto opened his mouth out of reflex to shout at her to get away, but again, was forced to assess the sight before him.

He looked at his daughter—at the begging hands clasped before her chin, at the cute button nose, at the pleading pout, at the big blue eyes and chubby cheeks and endearing whiskers.

He looked at the fisher—at the shiny, black eyes blinking innocently back at him, at the cute little ears, at the fuzzy head and stout muzzle and tiny paws.

Naruto winced.

"It stays outside," he said, thoroughly defeated, "You only play with it outside. It can hunt its own food. This is a wild animal Tomi. He _does not go inside_. Do you hear me? I don't want to see fisher poop on my bed, you got that?

Hitomi broke out into giggles at the word 'poop' and, with a cry of joy, jumped at the fisher. It darted out from underneath her, not running back to the woods like a normal wild animal should, but running within the perimeter of the yard, allowing the toddler to give chase.

Naruto smiled as he watched his daughter pursue the long-tailed animal around in circles, trying to grab it and fall, only to get back up again laughing. She was deceivingly-agile for a two-year-old and the fisher wasn't giving off any threatening vibes towards him or his daughter. Perhaps it was the fox demon within their blood that had the animal treating them closer to kin than humans.

Well, whatever it was, the Uzumaki family just gained one more member.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

**A/N: Tiny-Tomi is going into her terrible two's, hurrah!**

Sorry, the chapter was a lot of recapping and paragraphs, not the easiest thing to read through, I know.

That's right, it's a fisher. Or a fisher cat as they call them around where I live. If you don't know what one is, google it. Or if you want a picture, look at my new profile pic! They're sooooo cute! ...too bad they've been eating my kitties since the 2002. .

I know this has been confusing a couple of people: I'm doing little time jumps here and there, which is why, between scenes, Hitomi is aging a couple to a few months. So if I mention one age and then a little down the chapter mention another, that's perfectly normal…unless I'm aging her backwards. Then you yell at me.

**Now why am I having Naruto focus on chakra control so much?**

"_Wow...what chakra stamina...if this kid masters his chakra use...he'll become a monster"_

-Kabuto manga chapter 63, pg 2

"_His chakra is incredibly resilient...if he ever truly masters his chakra...this kid will be unstoppable"_

-Kabuto episode 36 English dub.

That stuck in my head ever since I heard/read it (years back) and I have to agree. Naruto already has the power; he just needs the control, and utilizing hundreds of shadow clones a day for two or three years will give him the practiced control one would gain in a lifetime or two. Don't get me wrong, this won't be a super powered Naruto—it will be a super-powerful Naruto who worked his ass off to get there :3

No doujutsu, no crazy inheritances, no amazing, special teachers...just him. As it should be ^_^

And may I just say **WOW**!!!!! Thank you all so much for the feedback I've been getting! I've been completely blown away with the responses the latest chapter received! I've been taking in both suggestions and criticism, and it's good of reviewers to remind a writer of little plot branches (such as Killerbee/Danzo/Old woman in rock etc) because sometimes when I have too many things going on little things like that will slip my mind.

And thank you **strider417**, who I have found (huddled in a ball behind a dumpster), for editing most of this (er...the last couple scenes are unedited. Look, that's just how I roll).

Unfortunately, I won't be updating next week, mostly because I'll be gone all of Thanksgiving weekend trying to survive my crazy Italian family (and then Christmas shopping XD) so I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving (even if you don't celebrate it). Thanks for the corn, Squanto!

Next chapter: Naruto confronts the Akatsuki...just not quite in person.

Every review I get is a calorie burned after Thanksgiving!


	13. Projections and Propositions

**Chapter 13**

September had come and gone with Hitomi just turning three and, as a preschooler, she got to throw her first _real_ birthday party. Naruto remembered dropping her off at school that day with the specific instructions to just invite a few friends. Needless to say, by the time he returned to pick her up it ended up being her whole preschool class that came to their house that weekend. Looking back on it now, he should have known better and to leave her to her own devices. Ah well, hindsight is twenty-twenty.

He didn't really have a problem with the situation; it just meant he had more kids to look after. He was grateful that many of the children's parents (and there were about fifteen kids running around his yard) had come to lend a helping hand, most of them already having experience in dealing with hordes of screaming and laughing children from birthdays past.

In the end, it turned out to be a fun-filled day of cake and games and presents. Naruto couldn't have been happier for his daughter. After all, he couldn't remember ever having a birthday party...hell, he had never even blown out candles on top of a cake! By seeing his daughter's face light up after each gift, surrounded by friends who admired her despite her strange attributes, a sense of pride stirred in his chest. His baby had already accomplished what he could not at the age of three: normalcy.

Even with her boundless energy, the end of that day had Hitomi exhausted and passed out on the couch before the last guest left. Cleaning up after a stampede of three and four year olds hadn't been all that fun, but with the aid of shadow clones it was quick work.

It was also nice to spend some time talking to all the parents while the children played; a few of them were even patrons of Juhi's bar. He no longer felt awkward for being so much younger than all of them because now he had common ground to talk about. They joked about the strange things their kids have done, what behaviors they thought were normal and what concerned them, where their kids were in terms of potty training, speaking, learning, etc...

A low beeping drew Naruto's attention away from his internal reflection and to the oven that had just finished pre-heating, now at its desired temperature of 350 degrees. A tanned hand shot out and tapped the "shut-up" button before the constant noise could stir his ire.

The young father smiled to himself and continued to prepare the dinner, happy with how his life had been going for the past year. Most of his friends were older than him; the kids in Bassai that were his own age hardly knew who he was (despite Yasei's best efforts) as he usually went to bed before they started partying. But none of this fazed him as he found himself much more comfortable around the older crowd.

He continued to have both his alter-clones work their respective jobs, his bank account growing almost as steadily as his chakra, and spent his evenings at Juhi's bar. He had settled more or less into his duties as a parent as well, learning to adapt to the changes Hitomi was going through and getting to know her habits and quirks as no one but her father could.

He turned his eyes away from the chicken he was seasoning over a burner and eyed his daughter, taking note of the golden glow of innocence that surrounded her head, blending into her hair. She was "helping" him make a salad for dinner by dropping baby carrots into a bowl of shredded lettuce—though half the carrots ended up with teeth marks in them and the other half were paraded around the edge of the bowl as her new toys.

"Car-rot-tinies, Car-rot-tinies...car-ROT-tinies!" she sang, beating two tiny carrots against the ceramic rim before sinking her fangs into one of them and then throwing it into the salad.

"You like carrots?" Naruto asked with a half grin, managing to keep one eye on the chicken and the other on her.

"No," she said and then bit into another one, chewing with her mouth open while trying to keep the bits of carrot from falling out.

"No more," he said, pulling the carrots and salad bowl away from her, "We're having dinner soon."

Hitomi made a growly-whiney noise in the back of her throat as she was lifted off the counter and placed on the ground. She struggled a bit as she was moved, showing that she was displeased with this decision.

"Knock it off," Naruto said automatically. "Go outside and play with Fuzz-wad, dinner will be ready soon."

Ah, Fuzz-wad...the creative and surprisingly accurate name Hitomi gave their pet fisher cat. The weasel-like critter had grown along side of Hitomi, dutifully living on the cusp of the forest bordering their yard, waiting for her to return home from school every day so that they could climb trees together.

"Kay!" she said, her attitude doing a one-eighty as she raced to exit the house.

"Put on a—"

The slider door slammed shut.

"—jacket," he finished lamely. Of course it wasn't chilly enough for her to catch a cold or anything (and he wondered if that were even possible for her) but that didn't stop him from worrying unnecessarily. Shrugging, he continued with his cooking—something he had slowly, but surely, gotten better at over the years. After all, there was no way he was going to raise a baby on ramen. Even he wasn't that daft.

He finished braising the chicken in the skillet and turned off the burner, allowing the aroma of garlic and parsley to fill the kitchen before he transported the onion and chicken medley to an oven pan.

'_It's strange...how domesticated I've become..._' he mused to himself with a relaxed smile playing on his lips. He may have been running a spy network through traveling specialized shadow clones and he may have been training to become the most dangerous wind-master in history, but the truth was he spent all his free time cooking and cleaning and chasing a three year old around.

And he had never been happier.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Are you sure you aren't lost? Because I don't think I've ever even heard of a member of Hawk wandering off on their own without Sasuke lurking around somewhere nearby. And he's...nope, he definitely not here."

Bleached-blue hair was whisked out of violet eyes as the watery entity known as Houzuki Suigetsu shook his head haughtily.

"Keep running your mouth, shithead, and I'll run my Kubikiri Houchō through your gut!"

The young Akatsuki couldn't believe his luck in finding the Kyuubi-Jinchuuriki wandering about the southern border of Iwa. It was just a simple patrol that Sasuke had asked him to perform—the Uchiha was always keeping Hawk on the lookout for sightings of his old comrade—when the blonde literally dropped out of a tree right in front of him.

Though it was a bit unnerving to Suigetsu that he hadn't sensed the Konoha-nin until he revealed himself, he wasn't worried too much over it. Karin had always been the tracker of the group, not him.

Naruto pouted at the threat, "Hey, hey, now. That was uncalled for. I haven't done anything to you...yet. Besides, you don't just go around threatening a man on vacation. You're supposed to wait until we're in some epic Jinchuuriki-Akatsuki battle before you start throwing names and insults around like that. Geez...whatever happened to enemy-encounter etiquette? And here I thought that you Akatsuki people had some class..."

Suigetsu's left eye twitched. He was clearly being underestimated if the dumbass blonde hadn't even drawn a weapon yet.

"The hell?" he mumbled, "Vacation?"

Wasn't this kid supposed to be on the run, fighting for his life and trying to survive being caught by them? According to Sasuke he was, at any rate. He certainly moved around enough for it.

"Yeah! Nice fresh air around here," Naruto commented amicably, keeping his pose relaxed, "And I really like the bean curd they sell around these parts. Got a bit more kick to them, ya know?"

"Do you think this is a joke?" Suigetsu snapped, finally having it with the blasé attitude and jabbing his zanbatou at his antagonist.

It wasn't as though the water manipulator expected to land a hit—it was more of a warning to stop dicking around—so seeing Naruto swiftly sidestep the weapon, while watching bemusedly as it passed by, didn't come as a surprise to him. What did surprise him was Naruto flicking his nose once the momentum from the swing brought Suigetsu close enough. And it was a hard flick.

"Aarrgh!" Suigetsu howled, holding a hand to his throbbing nose. His anger at the blonde was more than enough to override any embarrassment he felt at being subjected to such a lame tactic.

Naruto hopped back, well out of Kubikiri Houchō's swinging-range, and held his hands up at the dark look he was receiving, "Hey...just for the record...you started it. You have no one to blame but yourself, Kool-Aid boy."

Sniffing and wiping his nose with the back of his hand to make sure he wasn't bleeding (it had really hurt!) Suigetsu quickly composed himself. The mantra of what would come to the Jinchuuriki replayed in his head, soothing his anger. But no matter what he told himself, he wanted nothing more than to wipe that smirk off of the blonde bastard's face. Or, if he could, carve it off using Kubikiri Houchō.

"You think you're so cool," the waterman growled, his cocky attitude returning full force, "But soon you won't have anything left. You won't be laughing in a couple days, I can tell you that..."

"Oh yeah?" And despite his calm appearance, Naruto felt a small thrill of fear churn in the pit of his stomach. They _couldn't_ have found out about Hitomi, right?

Suigetsu gladly took the prompt to elaborate.

"Yeah...because we're going to tear Konoha apart—whether you would be there or not. Your pathetic village won't stand a chance against the Akatsuki," he shifted Kubikiri Houchō to his shoulder, preparing to launch another attack. A serious one this time, no more warnings.

It was horrible, but Naruto felt a small relief that he said Konoha rather than...anything else.

"Should you be telling me this?"

"It won't matter," Suigetsu laughed, "I'm going to take you out right here, right now. You should really be thanking me. Now you won't have to witness your village being destroyed; you'll only die knowing that it was all your fault."

Naruto didn't feel threatened in the least; only resigned.

"So...they're finally going to attack Konoha, huh? Can't say I'm too surprised..."

He had been expecting it for years, even before he left. Ever since he became the last Jinchuuriki he knew it was only a matter of time before they launched the grand attack. Keeping them distracted by allowing himself to be spotted in different parts of the world was all he could do to put off the inevitable. Now, it would seem, even that was no longer an appropriate tactic.

Suigetsu saw his opportunity as Naruto stared down at his feet in apparent shock.

'_Sorry Sasuke,'_ he thought as pointed teeth appeared in a jagged smile_, 'but this prick is mine!'_

The foolish man didn't think it was odd that the blonde made no move to dodge or even attack as he swung forward. He was simply hell bent on seeking revenge on the bastard who destroyed Samehada.

The troubled look on the younger man's face transformed into a smirk just as Kubikiri Houchō was driven through his belly.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Naruto had just closed the oven door, setting the timer to ten minutes when the blissful serenity of his home life was broken by a major onslaught of information that had him falling to his hands and knees. It was his specialized clone he had sent to the north, the one that had been drawing chakra from him over the last couple weeks. It was just dispelled by an Akatsuki member, leaving him with a good month's worth of information to sort through.

But that wasn't what disturbed him.

"Shit," he muttered and pushed himself to his feet, burrowing into one of the cupboard drawers and grabbing some parchment. He needed to get a message to Tsunade. Now.

He seized a pen from the counter, glancing once more outside to make sure he could still see Hitomi, and began to jot down a letter with haste.

_Baa-chan,_

_Bad news. Akatsuki's coming to attack. I know we've all seen this long coming, but apparently they've grown tired of searching for me—or rather, desperate—and have motioned to attack Konoha whether it draws me out or not. Don't panic just yet. I have an idea of how to communicate with them and I'm going to see if I can convince them otherwise. I'd slow down on accepting missions and have as many shinobi on hand as possible if I were you, on the __**very**__ likely chance that I do not manage this. I'm still not clear if it's just Pein that is attacking, or the whole group of them, but either way things are probably going to get messy. The attack doesn't have a set date or anything, I know they haven't decided when to set out just yet, but I wanted to give you a heads up. I'd expect an attempt in the next week or so, however._

_Don't worry; I'm going to do whatever it takes to stop them from reaching Konoha, so hopefully the only casualties will be on their side._

Naruto finished by signing off his name before rolling the message into a scroll formation and tying it off.

After a quick nip of his thumb and a several hand seals he declared in a clear voice, "Kuchiyose no jutsu!"

Almost immediately, a messenger frog rose from the table top, its bottom legs still merged into the surface so that only its top half was visible.

"Bring this to Tsunade, at once," Naruto ordered and the frog dutifully opened its mouth for him to place the letter in. The blonde watched it sink back into the table, knowing it would soon be rising out of Tsunade's desk in the next few minutes.

"Well, that's done. Now, for the second part—Hitomi! Stay in the yard!" he barked out the window as he saw his daughter prepare to race Fuzz-wad into the woods. She glanced back at him and pouted, but obediently backed away from the perimeter of the forest.

A brief smile flashed across his lips at the cuteness of his daughter before they settled back into a grimace. The situation was becoming grave if the Akatsuki were planning large scale attacks now. Of course none of this came as a surprise to him; after disappearing for three years he knew they would start resorting to something drastic. Naruto knew he was powerful, much more so than when he first left Konoha and possibly enough to take on more Akatsuki. The time for that to be tested was drawing nearer.

He was also aware that the Akatsuki believed he was somewhere in the north because that was where he had sent his latest specialized shadow clone to be spotted (despite all his training, it still took a lot out of him for him to send them that far). They were most likely under the impression that there was no way for him to get to Konoha in time to save them; they had no idea he was only twenty miles away from their target. No one did, really. Except for Moegi...

He grabbed Stick from its resting place against the kitchen wall and walked into the living room, absently making a shadow clone to go outside and supervise Hitomi.

The oval rug that covered the center of the hardwood floor was soft enough for him to sit comfortably cross-legged, the branch-turned-weapon resting across his knees.

If anyone were to give the stick a closer look, they would see tiny scratches etched into the worn bark, nearly covering the rod from top to bottom. And if said observer had any knowledge of seals, they would see that these weren't just ordinary scratches; no, these were hundreds, maybe thousands of runic seals engraved upon the makeshift weapon. Naruto's control on chakra was tenfold what he had ever expected it to be thanks to the grueling hours of wind manipulating and unique control exercises he had come up with, but it still wasn't enough to keep from damaging the simple stick every time he channeled wind chakra through its core. Support seals were necessary.

But what really made this tree limb unique was what was sealed inside it.

Naruto bit his thumb with enough force to break the skin and wiped it across the bottom of Stick, where two very distinctive rings were being stored. He closed his eyes, falling into a deep and concentrated meditative stance.

He didn't need to see the specific runes that glowed once hit with his blood, activating the Akatsuki projection rings he had spent weeks picking apart and studying. He had practiced with it enough to be fairly confident in its success.

Knowing what move young Berry Blast would most likely make after finally meeting his target, the Jinchuuriki figured that right now would be the right time to drop by and say hello to the big bad bosses of Akatsuki.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Hundreds of miles away, deep below the grainy fields of rain country, four figures were gathered in the dimly lit confinements of an underground architecture.

"So you're saying you ran into the Kyuubi child? You're positive it was him?" Uchiha Madara asked one of his newest underlings with forcefulness. On either side of him were his most loyal servants; Pein and Konan, and before him was the water-ninja from Hawk.

"It was just a clone," Suigetsu repeated, "but I recognized the bastard."

Before he ran his Kubikiri Houchō through him, at any rate. It just wasn't as satisfying to see a poof of smoke rather than the blood and screams he was hoping for.

"Then he must be somewhere in the area," Konan said, "those clones have a range don't they?"

"I wouldn't be so sure with this one. My guess would be that his range extends far beyond that of a normal ninja," Madara corrected her.

"Good guess."

The four people in the room turned to the unmasked presence that suddenly appeared in their hideout. The voice was hollow and the form fuzzy, hazing in and out in technicolor as though it were portrayed on a bad monitor. Still, the picture was clearer than any previous projection the Akatsuki had seen before, enough, at any rate, to see a young man nearing six feet with wild blonde hair that spiked near to his shoulders and narrowed azure eyes—more than the usual silhouette.

"YOU!" Suigetsu snarled, raising a hand to the hilt of his zanbatou only to have it smacked away by a smiling Madara, though it went unseen through the mask. The elder had stood from his throne and was walking towards the projection with slow, measured steps.

"Well I'll be damned," the timeless man grinned, "You're using our rings, aren't you? Clever boy."

Naruto could see surprisingly well through the projection and recognized the Sharingan eye staring back at him through the single hole in the orange swirled mask, making a quick and accurate deduction. He would later attribute the clarity of his sight to the use of two rings rather than one.

"Ah, Uchiha Madara, am I right? Kyuubi has some kind of grudge against you."

"Yes, I would imagine so."

"Don't do this," Naruto said simply, ignoring the earlier complement in favor of getting his message across.

"Don't do what?" Madara asked, feigning confusion. Naruto frowned, not amused.

"Leave Konoha out of this, I'm not even there. What would you accomplish by attacking them?"

"I'm almost surprised at your sudden interest," Pein cut in, stepping forward as well, "Finally decided to stop hiding like a coward, Jinchuuriki?"

Naruto recognized the red hair and multiple piercings from previous descriptions; it was the man who murdered his sensei. His first instinct was to snarl at the man, to curse him in every way he knew and threaten him with bodily harm. But there would be time for that later; his personal revenge would come in second to Konoha.

Working to keep his anger under control, he took a small breath before replying coolly, "Coward, am I? I don't think you'd have to resort to name-calling if you had caught me by now, would you? Comes off as a bit petty...I wasn't aware _Gods_ could fall so low..."

Taunting was not beneath him.

Pein made to respond, but was cut off by Madara's hearty laugh.

"Oh, don't mind him," the masked man said, ignoring Pein's affronted look, "Even I'll admit that it's been a blow to our pride to have let you evade us this long."

"Mmm," Naruto hummed, openly showing his appreciation for the surprising honesty, "My guess for your sudden action against Konoha is that you're getting desperate. Your chances of gaining the Kyuubi are getting slimmer and slimmer as I continue to absorb him."

"Yes, your father was a remarkable man. I've never before heard of a seal quite like that."

"That's because there isn't one," Naruto answered lightly, "Besides, it's not the seal that is absorbing it anymore, it's my own chakra."

"Is that so?" Madara asked, sounding genially interested. "And would you care to tell me how your chakra is managing to absorb a demonic entity?"

"No," Naruto said back haughtily, "I would not."

"Then perhaps our goal should not be to capture the Kyuubi but to capture you, if you are so unique."

Naruto cocked his head to the side, scrunching his face a bit as he tried to piece together what he just heard.

"Wait, did...did you just imply you want to seal me into a statue?"

Again, Madara laughed, sounding completely sincere in his amusement. Naruto could only attest that ability to the wisdom that came with such an age. Even if the man's goals were deemed despicable, Naruto had to respect him for his insight; the man had certainly learned the lesson of valuing good humor in his many years.

"You certainly know a lot about us for someone who has all but disappeared from the world," Madara commented after learning that the boy knew of the sealing statue.

"Oh I haven't disappeared. In fact, I've been everywhere," Naruto assured him. It only took him a moment longer to realize that he was only speaking to half the Akatsuki. "So...Where's my esteemed teammate?"

"Sasuke is out preparing to attack Konoha; I'll be sending him out soon enough."

Naruto closed his eyes for a moment, cursing his ex-teammate to the deepest pits of hell for putting him in such a position. If it came to it, he would kill the Uchiha without hesitation. He lifted his face and looked Madara squarely in the mask, ignoring the other three completely.

"What if I told you I would come to you? Would you leave Konoha alone?"

"I'm afraid the time to negotiate has passed, Jinchuuriki. You should have come to us earlier rather than waste our time. For that, you will have to watch your home village burn," Pein spoke up again, the voice irking the blonde more than he thought possible.

"Yeah," Suigetsu threw in with a shark-like grin, "I know I'm going to really enjoy razing that shit-hole to the ground."

Naruto grimaced at his admission.

"Then I'm afraid you won't get past Grass Country's border."

And with that final statement, Naruto terminated the connection. After all, he couldn't let the chicken burn just because he was chatting with a bunch of S-class missing-nins.

The four ninjas present stared at the spot that the obscure blonde had occupied earlier.

"Che...bastard," Suigetsu muttered with a glower.

"That boy...he's certainly interesting, isn't he?" Madara commented off handedly, "And to use our rings in such a way! Simply remarkable..."

"He'll be dead soon," Pein supplied, frowning at his superior. He couldn't understand how the man could treat a half-breed abomination so civilly. "Along with his entire village."

"No," the elder murmured softly, "there's been a change of plans."

"Madara-sama?"

"He'll be coming to us, so for now we will simply send one of our own to meet him."

"WHAT?" Suigetsu shouted, baring his pointed teeth, "What do you mean _one_?

"Hmm, you're right. We've underestimated him for far too long. Pein, take Konan with you when you go."

"You mean we don't get to kick his ass?" Suigetsu continued to rant, "What about Hawk? What about Konoha?"

"Konoha will wait. It will be much easier when we have all of the bijuu in our possession. This way we can be at full strength when we strike. Konoha will know of our plan by now, no thanks to their young spymaster. The element of surprise is lost for now."

"Damn it, this sucks," the former Kiri-nin sulked, kicking a small stone away from him with more force than necessary, "Sasuke's gunna be pissed as hell, that's for sure."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Naruto rolled his neck before opening his eyes and blinking back into reality. He looked down at Stick lying straight across his lap, absently wiping off some of his dried blood from the end with the rings sealed in it.

'_Well, at least I know it works but...'_

But the news was still unsettling. He had known beforehand that he wouldn't have been able to talk them out of attacking Konoha and that left him with his only other option. At least he could say he tried.

"I guess it can't be helped," he sighed, placing a hand on his thigh and pushing up from his meditation spot. He walked into the kitchen, calming his racing heart from encountering the very men who have been hunting him for half his life—he hadn't even realized until now how nerve-wracking that had just been. He had already lost so much to those bastards; he wasn't going to lose any more.

He set Stick against its usual spot on the wall and walked toward the small window located over the sink as it looked directly over the back yard.

"Hitomi!" he called out, catching the three-year-old's attention, "come inside and eat dinner. You're going to be staying over Juhi's tonight."

"Yeeaaah! Juu-Juu-baabaa!"

Naruto nearly dropped the chicken he was taking out of the oven. His head popped back up into the window's view.

"_What did you just say?!"_

"Baa-chan! I say baa-chan!" the little girl insisted, smothering an impish grin into her tiny fist.

"Get your butt in here now," Naruto replied instead of pushing it any further. He would bet his Stick that she learned that in pre-school somehow. Perhaps he should have home schooled her or something...it would have prevented her from learning less than pleasant ways to address people at any rate.

"Oh man...how did anyone ever put up with me?"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

'_Shit...it's getting worse'_

Tsunade rubbed healing chakra into the throbbing pain that was harassing her left temple over and over again. It had become a constant ache as of late; she knew what it meant, but she wasn't ready to accept it yet. Accepting it would mean accepting her age, her true self behind the diamond on her forehead, and she just wasn't ready for that. So for now, she would treat herself periodically rather than addressing the problem head on.

It was quite the gamble she was playing.

"Ah, crap..." she grumbled at the sudden, sharp pain that almost had her biting her tongue off. This was getting ridiculous.

She was just about ready to whip out her sake (because sake was a cure-all in her world) when the head of a frog summon peeked up from her desk.

Tsunade grinned and took the offered scroll. Finally, some good news.

"Shizune!" she hollered against the ache in her head. Her young assistant bustled over to the door, looking quite harried.

"Yes Tsunade-sama?"

"Get me Sakura and Ino immediately!"

"Right away, Tsunade-sama!"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Ever since she had discovered Naruto's 'situation' Sakura found herself thinking of her old teammate often.

_Far_ too often.

Whenever she met up with Ino she couldn't help but share a look with the other girl, knowing that the blonde was in the same boat as she was. It was just impossible to ignore; Naruto had a baby, and he was raising her alone while trying to save both her and the village from Akatsuki. He had become Konoha's silent savior, and, once again, no one could appreciate him for it.

Much of the population, including those of her graduating class, came to the conclusion that the "S-class mission" Naruto was sent on was just an excuse to put him into hiding, that he was safe and sound while Konoha was on the brink of war with Akatsuki and Amegakure. It was so frustrating for her to hear some of it; she just wanted to throttle someone and scream that it was so much more than that, that Naruto was struggling through so much strife just to protect their village and his family. But she knew she couldn't. Not until Naruto returned home, that is.

Even to this day, over a year after her discovery, she just couldn't understand it.

Why did he have to do this alone? Why did Sasuke have to get his revenge alone? Why did boys have the incredibly stupid notion that they had to do everything by themselves? Why couldn't they just trust her enough to help them?

She could understand, to an extent, Sasuke's reasoning. After all, she was pretty useless as a kunoichi when she begged him to let her help him.

But why would Naruto leave her in the complete dark about something so monumental to his life? What had she ever done to betray his trust? Even months after learning of his secret she was still pondering these questions.

Was it the tension between them before he left? Was he afraid she was going to abandon him? Did he think she would do something that would endanger his child? Sure, she thought he was an irresponsible dolt, but she wouldn't have ever intentionally tried to hurt him no matter how angry she was with him at the moment. She just assumed that he would know that. Maybe she should have talked to him more...

"Sakura!"

She looked up, realizing that she had been standing in the middle of the training field like a fool while lost in thought. Ino was running up to her, an excited look clearly displayed on her face.

"It's Tsunade-sama! She wants to speak with us!" Ino called out, stopping several feet in front of her companion.

"About what?" Sakura asked. She pocketed the kunai that had previously hung useless in her hand.

Ino looked as if she were about to answer when she gave the damaged training field an appraising look.

"What are you up to out here? Practicing for the Jounin exams?"

"Yeah," Sakura replied, slipping off her gloves as she had a feeling she wasn't going to be training any longer, "I can't understand why you aren't going to take it with me. Is little Ino-pig afraid she'll have to fight me?"

The excitement radiating from the mind-walker dimmed a bit at the jibe and she crossed her arms across her chest with an indignant huff.

"Pssh, hardly! I just don't think I'm ready for that responsibility yet. Besides, I'm happy being a Chuunin for now."

Sakura rolled her eyes, "Whatever, you oinker. Now what was it Tsunade-shishou wanted?"

"I don't know, but I have an idea!" the blonde winked. The unspoken connotation managed to spread her enthusiasm to the pink-head.

There had been three other pictures in addition to the first two that Naruto had sent Tsunade (and, unwittingly, the girls). The first was of a giggling little blonde girl covered in mud and holding a pair of twigs to her head like antlers.

The next was one of Naruto carrying a plank of wood on his shoulder while looking down at Hitomi who had wrapped herself around his leg for a ride. In the background there looked to be the framework of a deck that Naruto must have been building. This was the one the girls were particularly fond of as Naruto's torso was covered only in a thin, sweat-soaked tank-top that showed off the definition of his arm muscles beautifully.

The latest photo, sent nearly a month ago, was taken at Hitomi's third birthday party. She had cake smeared on her face and was grinning cheerily at the camera. It would have made for quite an endearing picture if she didn't happen to have some other poor toddler in a headlock.

But, no matter the contents of the photos, each one managed to spur the desire for Naruto to return more and more. Sakura was soon grinning along with Ino.

"Alright! Let's go!"

They bolted from the area, racing across rooftops while making idle talk.

"I hope he's sent another picture," Sakura started wistfully, "His baby is so cute!"

Ino grinned impishly "Yeah, but I hope he's in it as well this time. Remember that one with the deck? Mmmm, someone certainly hasn't been slacking on their training..."

"I-Ino! I told you to stop joking around like that!" Sakura blushed, springing off of the next roof top to stay airborne.

"D-I-L-F! He's a DIL—"

"SHUT UP, INO-PIG!"

"Ha ha ha, oh, Sakura, you're too easy. Tell ya what; the first one to Tsunade-sama's office gets to be the mother of _his_ next child!" Ino crowed before speeding up, laughing the whole way. Sakura nearly missed her next landing from embarrassment; she didn't need clarification as to who Ino was referring to.

"I SAID SHUT UP ABOUT THAT!" the pinkette screeched but her legs began to speed up as well in spite of herself. Her embarrassment couldn't overrule her competitive streak and it wasn't long before two nineteen year-old women were blurred along the rooftops of Konoha.

"I win!" Sakura declared loudly as she burst into the Hokage's office with Ino right next to her—much like when they were back in the academy.

"No way, Forehead, I was totally first!"

"Cha! You wish Miss Piggy! Clearly I reached the door before you! Look at our feet!"

"Ok, ok," the blonde suddenly let up, looking forlorn, "You win. I guess that means Naruto gets to father your children..."

"...WHAT?"

Ino grinned wickedly and opened her mouth to further embarrass her friend when she faltered, as though suddenly remembering where she was. She could feel her own face heat up in mortification. Sakura caught on at the very same moment and hastened to move herself into a bow, her bangs shielding her peripheral from seeing Ino do the same.

"We are so sorry Shishou—!"

"Please excuse our behavior, Tsunade-sama—!"

Both girls remained in their respective bows, waiting for the reprimanding of their unprofessional behavior to begin any moment. But after several long seconds of silence they felt confident—or curious—enough to peek their heads up.

The Hokage was standing next to her desk, her back facing them and her head bowed. She appeared to be reading something that her position of her body was hiding from view. Sakura straightened and took a step closer to her sensei.

"Tsunade-shishou...?"

She noticed a quiver run through the woman's body and the hand that was pressed against the desk for balance spasmed slightly, gripping onto the edge of the desk hard enough to crack it.

"Are you okay, Hokage-sama?" Ino tried, her concern rising as she slowly approached as well. There was something not right with this scene.

Tsunade let out a harsh cough, a hand rose to her temple in a pained grip.

"Tsunade-sama...?"

A soft cry of pain was heard before Tsunade doubled over.

"Shishou!" Sakura cried, rushing over to her Hokage as she was closest. Unfortunately she was too late, because her body hit the floor, the object she was holding slipping from her hand in the process.

A creased letter lay next to the fallen Hokage, covered by the splayed, blonde hair so that only a single sentence of the letter was immediately visible.

_Akatsuki's coming to attack._

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

I know what you're thinking: _You bastard, you killed Kenny!_

Well, no I didn't. And her name isn't Kenny, you idiots.

Haha, sorry, pre-final week is getting to me T_T and all I can do is babble incoherently.

I'm also sorry about this being a little on the short side; I know it's been about two weeks (and I hope you all enjoyed your thanksgiving! (Again, to those who celebrate it)) so I'll try to make it up to you in the next chapter.

Thank you-s to** strider714** for editing...and believe me, he had his work cut out for him this time. He can take credit for all the Kool-Aid references; Kool-Aid is completely over my head.

And thank you all for the great reviews! I try to answer what I can, but I am a bit scatter brained at the moment, so I apologize if any questions go unanswered.

Next chapter is going to be much longer. It must be because...IT'S A BATTLE ROYAL!!! SHIT IS GOING DOWN!!! XD XD XD


	14. The God and the Devil

**Chapter 14**

"You sure you don't mind watching her? I may be gone for a few days..."

"Boy, how many times do I have to tell you—I will take her for as long as you need me to. She's such a little angel," Juhi cooed, rubbing one side of Hitomi's whiskers as the little girl grinned and purred, clutching the aging woman's long brown skirt. A day with Juhi meant getting away with murder to her young mind. She was already scheming of ways to sneak Fuzz-wad into the Inn and feed him people food—something her father was always yelling at her for.

Naruto's eyebrow twitched as he glanced at his daughter. He was her father; he could see the cogs turning in her head behind the expression of pure innocence. And as a former prankster, he could recognize the signs of mischief in the making.

'_Ah Juhi...if you only knew what she called you earlier...'_

"Wouldn't be my choice of words," he instead replied, "but, thanks. I'll finish my shift tonight and then head out."

It was on short notice that he announced his leave and the need for Hitomi to stay at the lodge for a while, so he figured the least he could do was pull his shift before taking off.

"Don't suppose you'd like to tell me where it is you're going, huh?" the robust woman asked. She followed behind him as he headed to the polished bar.

"Just to where my old village was," Naruto lied easily, forgoing walking to the opening at the end of the counter in favor of agilely and effortlessly hopping over. Juhi pursed her lips at his unorthodox way of entering the bar.

"How come?"

"I just heard rumors of reconstruction going on," he continued, pulling out some glasses from under the counter and setting them on top, "I want to see if there is anyone I know returning to the village."

Juhi was silent for a moment and Naruto lifted up his head to see her looking at him with an unreadable expression. He immediately caught on and hastened to reassure her.

"Don't worry Juhi; I'm not moving back or anything. My home is here now."

Every word of it was true. Even if he did return to Konoha—and who knew when that would happen—he didn't know how he would manage to resume living there. Here in Bassai he had a home and family and friends. Despite his sudden arrival and young age he had managed to gain a lot of respect around the village. Not as a Jinchuuriki or as a ninja, but as the young father trying to get his life back on track. He had become quite handy in aiding Juhi or the preschool with simple repairs and knew many storeowners and merchants personally. It was the little things like that that made him feel so at home in this village.

He had spent his whole childhood on the inside looking out, watching how the village people of Konoha interacted; he watched as they greeted each other in the streets, traded pleasantries, and helped each other out of courtesy. He watched them with envy.

But now, here in Bassai, he was one of them: he was the one who received an acknowledging nod or wave as he walked by, he was the one striking up small talk with other patrons or customers when he shopped, he was the one who children would come to when their kite got stuck in a tree (or his daughter, as she was the resident tree-climber).

Thinking of Konoha brought forth a pang of nostalgia but, at the same time, a sense of loneliness. As far as he knew, he had no home there anymore—literally, as he thought of his old apartment—his friends probably didn't see him in the best light at the moment, and the majority of his memories there were of him being completely and utterly alone. Nevertheless, he continued to love that village. Which was why he had to do this; he had to end the Akatsuki before they hurt any more of his precious people.

Juhi looked quite relieved when he said that, "Good, because we've all grown quite fond of you Uzumakis. It'd be a shame to see you go. Has Tomi had dinner yet?"

Naruto sighed, glancing at his daughter who was currently playing with the folds of Juhi's long skirt, "Yeah. But she also just had a late snack...or rather, I found her with her head in a box of cheerios..."

Juhi laughed and picked up the smiling little blonde before she could run.

"You're a little sneak, aren't you?" she asked as she held the three year old over her head, squeezing her sides. Hitomi laughed and squirmed, shaking her head vigorously.

"No!"

"I think you are. You must still be hungry if you had to eat cheerios right after dinner. How about we go to the kitchen and find something for you to eat?"

"Yuss! Food!" Hitomi clapped with enthusiasm, making herself comfortable in Juhi's arms as the woman lowered her to her hip. Naruto watched the two head around the back, chuckling ruefully at his daughter's more than healthy appetite. If it weren't for her boundless energy, she would probably turn out like a female Chouji.

"Yo, Naruto, get me two sangrias would you?" the slick voice of Ichiro cut in as the man hopped over to the blonde.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the regular.

"Sangrias, huh? Has hanging out with all those ladies finally knocked you back into chick drinks?"

Ichiro looked lost for all of two seconds before laughing loudly.

"Ho ho! That's funny, right there. No, no, my bad. Get me a snakebite and black. I've got twins tonight," he finished his statement with a waggling of his eyebrows and a jerk of his head towards a corner table. There sat two identical brunette women who were giggling, whispering and shooting the occasional peek at the bar.

Ichiro placed his hands on the edge of the bar counter and leaned in, glancing around to make sure he wouldn't be overheard, "Hey, I'd be more than willing to share one of them, if ya know what I mean...Eri—that's the left one...I think—anyways, she really likes 'em young, or so I hear."

Naruto grinned and shook his head, far too used to the almost nightly offer to be affronted, "You know I already have a girl in my life, and she's plenty."

Ichiro sighed in exasperation; he already knew what the kid's answer would be after trying (in vain) to get him hooked up for years, but that didn't stop him from insisting that the boy needed to get laid. It was his civic duty as a gentleman to help a fellow out.

"You're a disgrace to men everywhere," The older man inflicted dryly, "Anyways—did ya hear about Konoha?"

"What about it?" Naruto asked, capping the blackcurrant cordial.

"They got themselves a new Hokage. It's that copy-cat guy."

Naruto turned his full attention on the man, taken aback.

"Kakashi-sens—er—san?"

"Yeah, that's it," Ichiro continued, snapping his fingers, "Hatake Kakashi! That's his name."

Naruto grabbed the next glass wearing a completely bemused expression, "So that old hag decided to step down."

It wasn't that surprising that he would hear about Konoha through someone else; after all, he kept most of his meetings with contacts far to the north or east, basically avoiding any chance of running into Konoha ninja. But still...he should have at least heard something by now if Kakashi had taken over the post of Hokage; this was big news! And the letter he just sent a few hours ago...should he send another giving Tsunade the consent to tell Kakashi-sensei about his "mission"?

Ichiro slapped the counter, tickled, "Haha! Old hag! Good one. Nah, apparently she had a heart attack or something. That's why they're trying to keep the whole thing hush-hush—"

Naruto's hand froze over the tap he was about to hit, his head snapping to the man as suddenly as his eyes tightened.

"How do you know this?" he asked quickly, breathily. Tsunade-baachan? A heart attack? What if it was his letter? What if his daunting news of the Akatsuki attacking brought her to this state? Tsunade wasn't young by any means—this he knew—but she was in far too good health to have a heart attack, wasn't she? It had to have been the news...

Ichiro blinked a couple times, having never seen the young barkeep wear such an intense expression before, let alone directed at him. He seemed like a whole different person with the furrowed brow, narrowed eyes, and stern frown.

"Eh, well, my cousin is over there and we're pretty tight so we keep in touch. He's a shinobi. Not the life for me, ya know? Too much blood, not enough lovin'...anyways, apparently it just happened or pretty recent anyway. Can't remember much else, all I knew about that Hokage was that she had a nice rack."

"H-had? Is she—?"

"Oh! No, no, sorry kid. She's still alive. As it turns out she was wearing this whole illusion of sorts, not really familiar with all the ninja lingo, ya know? But now she's like...this old woman. Creepy if ya ask me."

"I see..."

Naruto's mind was racing as he tried to file this away for later contemplation. Getting worked up now would blow his cover; he wasn't supposed to have anything to do with the ninja world! But that didn't stop his hands from shaking as they handed over the ordered drinks, his body unable to stop reacting to the heart-stopping news. Had he really done this?

"Uh...why? Didja know her?"

Naruto blinked a couple of times, suddenly aware of Ichiro's concerned and slightly frightened look on his pointed features.

"Oh! Uh, no! No, I just, um, I heard a lot about her. For a Hokage to just go down like that, well, it's kind of scary isn't it? She's supposed to be the strongest ninja in the village..."

"Tell me about it; personally, I think there was fowl play they're just trying to cover up."

"Are—are you sure Kakashi isn't just filling in temporarily? I mean, they wouldn't replace a Hokage this quickly," Naruto tired, attempting to make some sense out of it. Now that he had somewhat come to terms with Tsunade, he was beginning to look at the whole picture. That and he was fairly certain Kakashi didn't even want the position.

Ichiro shrugged.

"I don't know nothing about ninja politics, man. But my cousin, he works in the administration building there a lot, and that's what he told me. He said the Hokage went down and they replaced her with the copy-cat guy. That's all I know."

"Hmm. Alright. Thanks for telling me this."

"Uh, yeah, no prob," he said hesitantly. Ichiro was still a little freaked out by how strongly the kid reacted, "And the twin offer, you know it's still on the table..."

Naruto threw a dishtowel at the man as he hurried back to his girls.

The blonde worked the rest of his shift in a daze, suddenly wishing he could stop by Konoha on the way, just to make sure Tsunade was alright, but knowing it wouldn't be prudent. Finally, after serving several other patrons, the clock struck ten, signaling the end of his shift and the start of someone else's. Sure enough, Yasei was leaning against the bar flap, looking as young and flippant as ever.

"Alright, Naruto?" he asked in greeting as Naruto exited his work station. Naruto blinked, as though just seeing him for the first time. It was about six months ago that Yasei applied to work the late shifts at Juhi's bar, deciding that if Naruto wouldn't come to him (and he had only managed to drag a clone out all of two times) then he would come to Naruto. Often times he would arrive early, hanging out at the bar and joking around the younger man as he finished up his shift.

"Huh, oh, yeah," the blonde grinned wearily. He must have really been out of it if he hadn't noticed Yasei arrive until just then. The guy wasn't exactly subtle. "Have fun."

"Yeah, yeah," Yasei waved him off cheekily, "Go to bed, ya old man. I can see bags under your eyes."

Naruto discretely flipped off his laughing replacement and moved on to seek out his daughter.

Hitomi was surprisingly still awake, found playing under one of the tables with a couple of dolls Juhi bought her a while back (both of which were missing limbs and decorated in old teeth marks). She sensed her father approaching and crawled out from under the table to meet him.

"Tomi, give me a kiss, I'm leaving," Naruto said softly, bending down on one knee, "I'll be back tomorrow or the next day, okay?"

'_I hope...'_

As excited as she was to spent time with Juhi-baachan, Hitomi knew that wherever her father was going was someplace she didn't know about, and as such she would have no idea where her father was; that thought scared her. It didn't help that a dull grey was creeping in around the usual colors that surrounded his body.

She quickly ambled over and threw her arms around his neck, allowing him to hug her tightly before pecking him on the lips.

"You be good for Juhi, alright?"

"Okay," she mumbled, but her claws had yet to retract from his shirt. Naruto gave her another kiss on the top of her head and pulled away. He couldn't stop his eyes from sweeping over her face and taking everything in—from the one-dimpled smile to the slightly up-turned nose. As painful as it was to think it: this could be the last time he saw his baby girl.

Heaving a somnolent sigh, Naruto stood, keeping a hand on the side of the toddler's head as she stayed close to her father's leg. He smiled at Juhi, trying to generate as calm an aura as he could for both the woman and his daughter's sake.

"Don't let her get away with too much; I know how you spoil her."

"You just hurry back," the Innkeeper issued, "I don't know what I'm going to do without my favorite bartender to keep all the ladies coming."

Naruto blushed and scowled, "Taking lessons from Ichiro?"

Juhi chuckled and pulled him into a bear hug. He hadn't realized until now that they were within an inch of each other's height—and that was saying something when it came to Juhi's large frame.

"I can't understand for the life of me why you would travel at night," she grumbled pulling away from him to give him a stern stare, "You could be robbed! Or attacked! Wait until morning, won't you?"

She had pleaded this case for the umpteenth time since he announced his departure. He gave her another quick, reassuring hug and patted her on the shoulder.

"Don't worry about me, Juhi. I can take care of myself. Besides, I want to leave as soon as possible so that I can get back sooner," he tapped Hitomi on the nose, making the girl break a small smile, "You won't even know I'm gone."

Naruto bid them farewell and, with one last hug from a saddened Hitomi, he left the inn, taking to the trees as soon as he was out of sight.

Juhi kept her eyes trained on the door that Naruto had exited, unable to fathom how his mind worked. She had raised two sons; she knew when boys were lying. And that boy lied a lot. Nevertheless, she loved him all the same.

Pressing her lips together, she chucked Hitomi under the chin with a hooked finger, bringing the girls attention away from the door as well. The three year old blinked up at her with big, blue eyes...before breaking into a series of pig-like snorts.

"Geez...both you _and_ your father; adorable, but weird."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Long white robes lined in red draped across a tall, broad shouldered body. A cone shaped hat scored with the fire emblem was lifted by a gloved hand and placed over a half-masked head; flattening down gravity-defying grey hair in the process. The Rokudaime Hokage stood before a mirror nailed to one of the walls of his new office. The Hokage's office.

Kakashi stared at his reflection a while longer and released a small sigh. He should not be the one wearing these robes.

Outside he could hear the gathering crowd grow in volume as more and more people arrived for his early morning inauguration. It was all happening so fast: Tsunade had a stroke, found on her office floor by Sakura and Ino and, seeing as she had yet to wake up, the Third's old teammates wasted no time in pushing for him to take over. He fought it at first, he had never wanted kage-ship and he never would, but they insisted that he take the title before there were any attempts to undermine the current government. Granted he knew he was on the potentials list for quite some time now and in the shadow of a looming war, Konoha needed to have a figurehead.

But his new position of responsibility wasn't what weighed on his mind at that moment. It was the letter his former student showed him—A letter that was meant for Tsunade who was, at the moment, incapacitated; a letter from another old student of his...Naruto.

Naruto had been in contact with Tsunade for quite some time now—that much was obvious. Of course, Kakashi knew there had to have been some connection between them; even the most obscure of missions needed to have tabs kept on it. If he were to be honest with himself he would admit that he was a bit upset that Sakura and Ino, two Chuunins, were aware of this while he was left in the dark, along with every other shinobi. After all, he was the boy's sensei, and his abrupt and disturbing departure had concerned him deeply. His faith and loyalty to his Hokage was the only thing that kept him from attempting to track down Naruto.

The pinkette morosely explained to him that she as well had been left out of the loop until she stumbled upon it by accident.

In the letter was the disturbing confirmation that the Akatsuki were planning to attack Konoha directly; whether as a whole unit or just several of the best, it didn't matter—Konoha was in trouble. Before he was officially sworn in as the Rokudaime he was already ordering their defenses to double and to retract as many close missions as possible to increase their numbers as much as he could.

The most concerning part of the letter, by far, was the insinuation that Naruto was going to take on the Akatsuki by himself. He had no idea what Naruto had been up to these past few years or how much stronger he had gotten (if any stronger at all), so he didn't have the accurate information to assess to make an appropriate move. He knew Naruto had a knack for accomplishing the impossible and that his letter stressed not to make any oppositional move yet, but these were the Akatsuki. How could anyone expect him to allow his sensei's son—_his_ _own student_—to face the very men that had been hunting him down for the last several years?

And where would Naruto be coming from? Over his absence he had been spotted from Lightning Country to Wind country...pretty much everywhere North of Fire country. Kakashi had to wonder how he managed to move around so much without ever being caught.

No matter. For now, he was going to need Shikamaru.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"What do you mean I'm not going?" Sasuke snarled, slamming his hands on the table where the remaining Akatsuki were seated. "What happened to destroying Konoha, huh? Those people...that village...after what they did to the Uchihas—our family—they deserve to suffer! I want to be the one to do it!"

"You will get your chance Sasuke. Sit down."

But Sasuke didn't sit down.

"Then let me fight Naruto. Let me see how powerful he's gotten."

"He is not yours to fight. Pein will do it—he is the murderer of Naruto's sensei, after all—as well as Konan. You will wait here until the real attack on Konoha."

Sasuke glared defiantly for a moment longer before grudgingly conceding, returning to his seat between a concerned Karin and a highly amused Suigetsu. His only consolation was that his quest for vengeance wasn't totally being denied of him.

Juugo closed his eyes and released a small sigh through his nose. When it came to his temper, sometimes Sasuke was too predictable. And his temper only seemed to flare when that Naruto boy was mentioned.

As it happened, Juugo was an observant man. It was this trait that allowed him to see the subtle changes in his friend's personality over time. This Naruto fellow had Sasuke feeling threatened, though the Uchiha would never admit it. When Kisame-san was killed Sasuke was bemused, when Zetsu went missing he was a bit rattled. And now that this guy was using the Akatsuki's own rings and threatening to meet them head on he was excited—excited at the prospect of testing his strength against an old rival. An excitement that was shattered into disappointment at the change of plans.

The orange-masked shinobi looked at what remained of his collected group, still unable to fathom how their numbers dwindled so suddenly that they had resorted to accepting teenagers into their midst. Granted Sasuke was an exceptionally talented ninja, but the other three were either unstable, uncooperative or under qualified. He didn't think that Karin girl had much else going for her besides whatever abilities Orochimaru implanted.

And there was one man he felt justified in putting most of the blame on.

Madara was no fool; he knew the last Jinchuuriki was remarkably powerful—not to mention rather cunning for him to have evaded capture for this long—and he was going to weigh that power against his two most loyal and powerful subordinates. Then he was going to storm Konoha whether they managed to take the last demon or not.

Konoha—the most powerful of the five elemental nations—would fall at his feet by his own hand, and he would end what he had started nearly a century ago. But he knew the Leaf wouldn't go down without a fight, and having a Jinchuuriki on their side would not help his case. He didn't know how much damage the Kyuubi child could deal to his forces so he would rather have as many of the Akatsuki in top shape before storming the imposing gates of Konoha.

And to do so, they would have to get rid of the Jinchuuriki first.

He snuck an amused glance at the stewing avenger; the boy could only seem to focus on the obvious fact that he was being denied the chance to fight and truly test his power against the Jinchuuriki. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Pein and Konan would return victorious.

After all, the wielder of the Rinnegan had never before been defeated.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

The leaves of Fire Country's trees didn't even tremble as bare feet curved around every branch they touched before pushing off. Naruto could feel the hum of each tree's aura through the soles of his feet and it gave him a slight comfort to know that he wasn't alone, even when he had no human companionship.

Aside from a small detour that allowed him to go around Konoha rather than through it, Naruto's course toward the general vicinity of where he knew the Akatsuki base to be was, for the most part, direct and uninterrupted. His only break had ended a couple hours ago, where he had fished, eaten, and taken a long nap to refresh his body after travel.

He was fairly certain Madara wasn't going to send Akatsuki to attack Konoha immediately after he cut off the projection—which was why he felt it was safe enough to get Hitomi settled comfortably in the lodge before he took off—but that didn't stop his heart from pounding frantically in his ribcage. What if he _was_ too late? Or what if he still wasn't strong enough to protect those he loved? Discouraging thoughts such as these had been plaguing his mind during his entire journey.

He hadn't left a clone with Hitomi and Juhi; he needed all the strength he could get for the up and coming battle. With the distance he was covering it would have required a specialized clone to keep watch over them, and that was chakra he could not waste.

The left side of his face was now cooling from where the sun once heated it, its position in the sky telling him it must have been around six in the afternoon. The traveling alone took nearly twelve hours to score almost the entirety of Fire Country, not including his brief respite.

Naruto's next jump was cut off as he suddenly planted his heels into the closest thick branch, chips of bark raining down to the ground below from the rough stop. He had just passed the northern border of Fire Country, bringing him into Grass, and he could already sense two immense chakra signals making their way towards him. This was it; now he would know just how powerful he was, and how well he could protect his precious people. It was all that mattered to him at the moment, and all that should matter, just as Haku taught him almost seven years ago.

However, as he stood there, amongst the tree tops but still clearly visible, apprehension seeded itself into his belly.

Naruto was unsure of his abilities.

It was true that he had beaten Kisame (with the help of Kyuubi), and Zetsu was dealt with using only his own power almost two years ago...but how long has it been since he fought multiple opponents? Ignoring Konan, Pein could somehow separate his body into six beings—or more, if Jiraiya's last message was any indication; he was definitely going to have his hands full. What if his isolation from the ninja-world had worn away at the instincts honed from deflecting multiple attacks, countering from every angle? These weren't shadow clones...these were S-class missing-nins...

While Naruto frantically ran over the cons of his situation, Pein and Konan were staring at the last Jinchuuriki with polished composure, portraying that they were sure of a victory. Their faces remained stoic, but inside the minds of both master criminals' was the same surprising and ridiculous observation:

The boy wasn't even wearing shoes...and his only weapon appeared to be a stick.

Of course, the second observation they made was that he hadn't come from the north as they had suspected, but rather, the south—he came from Fire Country. It certainly answered some questions as to why they couldn't find him all this time.

"You seem ill prepared, Jinchuuriki," Pein commented monotonously.

Naruto had known they were watching him for the last minute or so and finally withdrew from his troubled thoughts. He raised his eyes and stared directly at the grey-ringed irises, ignoring Konan for the moment in favor of taking in every detail of Jiraiya's murderer.

"It's a weekend," he shrugged, trying to exude confidence in face of his nerves.

And suddenly, as though his silent plead for strength was answered, Hitomi's adorable, smiling face flashed through his mind. What was he getting all worked up for? He was a master at manipulating wind—not just the chakra—but wind itself. Years of mediating, connecting himself to nature and learning to harness his youki made him more than human, more than a ninja. His chakra capacity had almost doubled completely to what it was the last time he fought someone from Akatsuki, the constant use of specialized shadow clones from hundreds of miles away had exercised his canals to the point of dangerous. And his chakra control was beyond anything he ever hoped it could be.

There was no way in hell the Akatsuki were going to take another step in the direction of Konoha...another step in the direction of his daughter...

He rested Stick against the trunk of the tree he was standing in and linked his fingers together, stretching them outward in front of him and sending a series of teeth-grinding cracks echoing about the intended battle zone.

Pein and Konan made no move to stop him as he summoned four clones. They watched bemusedly as he cut open both of his palms by channeling a tiny wind blade off the tip of his index fingers, then tracing the bloody surfaces along the center of each clone's chest. There were no physical changes in the clones, but something had definitely altered about their make-up. The Akatsuki were about to be formally introduced to a specialized shadow clone.

Pein wanted to scoff. Only four clones? What happened to the stories of the boy filling entire forests with his replicas and pig piling on opponents?

"Don't be foolish," he said softly, "Give up now and come quietly. Fighting is futile. My Rinnegan can see everything."

And as he said it five other presences arrived one by one, their bodies unseen, but their auras detected by Naruto—though barely. It was as if there was only a faint trace of an aura, a residue of sorts. The weird part was they matched.

The auras _matched_.

He brushed off the revelation for the moment. Naruto wasn't going to warm up to the fight; he was starting off strong and ending it as fast as possible. He had done his homework, he knew, to some extent, the abilities of each body, and he was already mulling over how to exploit them.

He grinned, allowing every feral gene he had to shine through.

"Just because you can see it, doesn't mean you can stop it."

It wouldn't be long before Pein would truly understand the significance of that sentence.

Naruto held his hands to his side with open palms. The clones closest to each hand began working the chakra that gathered at the palm, forming it into a blue-white rasenshuriken in a matter of seconds.

Konan took an involuntary step back, knowing that this was the attack that killed two of Kakuzu's hearts in one blow.

Naruto smiled at the glimpse of fear, holding each growing, spiked ball of destruction away from his body as he sprung from the tree branch, his three clones doing the same in a dispersing fashion.

"Let's get wild!"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Brisk steps traveled down the pristine halls of the Konoha General Hospital as Kakashi swiftly strode by door after door. The one he was looking for came into view, near the very end of the hall on the third floor and he was quick to enter.

Clutched in his hand was the short notice that he had just received from a messenger hawk. The contents of which voiced the frantic concerns of a northern border village who was witnessing massive and loud explosions several miles from them. Kakashi knew right away that Naruto had indeed intercepted the Akatsuki's advance, and the very thought had him terrified for his old student.

That had to have been several hours ago by this point.

Unfortunately Tsunade only just awakened and he had yet to discuss the details of the situation pertaining to Naruto's "mission". Until he talked to her he would be unable to make an informed and fruitful decision.

"Tsunade-sama," he greeted with a short bow. She may not have been the Hokage anymore, but she was still a Sannin and a woman to be respected. The wrinkled mouth was drawn into a grim line as Tsunade greeted Kakashi with a short nod.

"Ah, Kakashi. Have you heard any news from Naruto? What's happening with the Akatsuki situation?"

"No, but this," he held up the warning, passing it to her with stiff movements, "I think should be enough."

Honey brown eyes scanned the paper, the lips of the lined mouth growing thinner and thinner as they pursed together.

"I can't tell you how powerful he's gotten;" she admitted, "Only that he was the one that delivered Zetsu's body to us."

The movement behind his mask indicated that Kakashi was biting his lip.

"Even so, he is just one man...and I'm reluctant to dispatch any units if the Akatsuki are on their way at the moment. We'd need as many of our shinobi united and at the front, not wandering around Fire Country aiming for interception."

It was hard saying such things—as though Naruto was already killed—but Kakashi was no longer a nostalgic Jounin-sensei; he was the Hokage, and had many more lives to be concerned about with now.

"Send out a medical team, at least," Tsunade advised, "to retrieve Naruto if—if he's..."

"Very well," Kakashi agreed. It was the least he could do for the man who was buying them time.

"Great, I'll lead."

Sakura had entered the room without as much as a knock, showing no signs of shame or guilt for eavesdropping. Kakashi sighed. He didn't need to ask how she knew what was going on in the north when he himself had just learned; even though her master was no longer the Hokage, Sakura still insisted on helping Kakashi about the office. She had access to almost everything—including any follow up letters from other concerned villages.

"Sakura we need to discuss this—" he began, only to be cut off.

"There's nothing to discuss," Sakura's eyes flashed with cold steel, her face stony, "I'm going to save my teammate."

"We don't even know if the Akatsuki are still there or not—for all we know Naruto could be dead right now and the Akatsuki could be on their way as we speak—"

"Then I'll kill them."

Perhaps the suggestion that Naruto was dead was the wrong route to take, for Sakura's voice suggested nothing but the deepest loathing as she continued, "I'll kill each and every one of those bastards if they so much as scratched him..."

"He's fighting the Akatsuki, dear—I think scratches are a given—" Tsunade stopped at the deadpan look from Kakashi and the sound of Sakura's grinding teeth. Even with Naruto's life on the line, she couldn't help but antagonize her student. Call it woman's intuition, but somewhere, deep down, she knew that the last Jinchuuriki would survive this encounter, she couldn't help but have that kind of faith in him, and that thought alone was keeping her together at the moment.

"Very well," The grayed blonde conceded, "Who would you take with you?"

"Aichi-san, Shiga-san, and Osaka-san," she listed instantly, familiar with working with each of the combatant medics and knew them to be capable and proficient.

"You have until tomorrow evening to return," Kakashi stiffly issued, "If you can't find him within twenty-four hours you return immediately. We'll need you here."

"I understand," Sakura stated sharply as only a soldier would and shushined away after a parting bow.

Kakashi gave his own respecting bow to the bed-ridden woman, "Thank you for your counsel Tsunade-sama, I'll leave you to your rest."

Despite the gravity of Konoha's current situation, Tsunade couldn't keep her eye from twitching at Kakashi's specific choice of words. Though it pained the woman to admit it, she was no longer a part of the action—she had moved on into the role of a consultant, imparting her wisdom and experience rather than receiving it. Right along with Homura and Koharu.

Joy unbound.

"Hold it _Hokage-sama_."

Kakashi tensed at his new, unwanted title being thrown in his face with such irony.

He turned around, giving her the stink eye, _'Touché old woman, touché.'_

Tsunade pretended not to notice his ire.

"There's still one other thing you need to know about Naruto that I'm sure Sakura has failed to mention in light of our current crisis."

"Oh?"

"Yes," she began seriously, "Naruto has a daughter."

"..."

*THUD*

"...Er...Kakashi?"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

To say Pein was shocked have been a vast understatement. After all, what would he have to be shocked about? He was the wielder of the Rinnegan—the most powerful doujutsu to ever exist. He held an affinity for every element, he could summon massive creatures, he could manipulate the center of gravity with all matter, and he could control his bodies at long distances with the chakra receptor piercings.

He could see everything from every angle, and for once he wished he couldn't. Because this...this child...this _thing_—it was unreal. It was impossible.

Like Konan, he had heard the stories of the power behind the rasenshuriken, that it could shred anything on a molecular level and in a matter of seconds, but he severely underestimated its power and that was the first mistake of many he made that day.

The first rasenshuriken the boy threw was deflected by his ability to repel attacks—and at the last second at that, for his records indicated that this particular technique could not be thrown. Their vision was obscured by the chaos of wind that erupted in its dispersion. Naught three seconds after the first was thrown came the second one, leaving him no time to power up and deflect it. He was forced to dodge, Hungry Ghost Realm leaping to the forefront in an attempt to absorb the blast.

Later on he would wonder how the boy wasn't slowed by the backlash of his own first attack. Later on he would see that a true wind master had nothing to fear from the wind.

Right off the bat Hungry Ghost Realm had been destroyed; there was nothing left for Hell Realm to even attempt to resurrect. The God Realmstation the attack caused wiped out acres upon acres of forest, leveling their appointed battle grounds and denying them of any immediate cover. This kid wasn't fooling around, that much Pein could be certain of.

The battle kicked off from there. The clones the boy had summoned and improved upon were nearly on par with his substitute bodies, three of which tackled the four remaining Realms and one going straight for Konan. The blue haired woman took to the sky, immediately drawing that particular clone in a game of cat and mouse with her ever evasive paper make-up.

He, the God Realm, engaged the true body of the Jinchuuriki. He knew this to be true only by the ringed eyes that had kept him pegged from the beginning...

...Or so he thought. Further into the battle his Animal Realm began calling her summons and he was startled to see the blonde ninja—who had moved to the east, bouncing around between Animal and Hell Realms—call forth the boss summon of the toads, Gamabunta.

Yet, not long after that, the one targeting Konan created its own bunshin to aid it in completing a rasenshiruken to try and knock the flighty woman out of the air permanently. A set of his eyes watched as the fleet of paper birds were shredded by the harsh, terrifying winds. Konan reconfigured herself only to find she was missing most of an arm.

They couldn't all be the boy, summoning and performing such advanced techniques were not things shadow clones could do. But his eyes didn't lie. Pein could see it all happening—his eyes missed nothing—but he felt powerless to stop it. The child was relentless in his attacks, every clone of him was, and the pierced man hadn't found himself on the defense like this in many, many years.

The Jinchuuriki he fought showed no signs of fatigue, and kept up an annoying alteration between using ninjutsu and wind at a rather inconsistent pace. It was driving Pein mad. Controlling the centre force of gravity wasn't doing him much good when the attacks directed at him were hardly charged with chakra. Not to mention the boy had caught on quite quickly to the limit of his gravitational control. He was using a one-two attack method—shooting off some kind of offensive and having it followed up immediately by another.

And that stick! What was it? It was no ordinary weapon—that much Pein was sure of. After seeing it in action for the first hour or so, and at every angle, he found that it was sharper than a sword, stronger than iron and could cause explosions at the slightest touch. The only conclusion the Rinnegan wielder could come up with was that it was some sort of relic, or marvel, that the boy had disguised to look like it had fallen off of a tree.

When he finished this, he would find the smith who designed the weapon and crush him as well.

Pein had assumed he would have gained an obvious edge once night fell. Though Konan's eyes were only as good as a ninja's could be, his Rinnegan would have seen everything that happened in the cloak of darkness. He was sorely disappointed to find no slip in the boys performance, just an eerie glint to the eyes that made the deep blue ring around the huge, black pupils shine reflectively...like the eyeshine of a carnivore.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Naruto caught his weight against the trunk of the tree he was just knocked into, gasping for breath as the constant use of multiple specialized clones in extreme battle began to wear on his already drained body. The rays of the dawn's first light blessed his skin with warmth, invigorating him.

The intensity of the battle throughout the night had lessened drastically, mostly due to the obvious drawbacks of fighting in the dark. Naruto had re-arranged his clones to keep Pein and his bodies busy while he took on Konan himself—the most disadvantaged of the battlers at that time—slowly herding her towards the forest. The benefit in this was that he could play his own game of hide and seek with her, allowing him a chance to catch a breather and stock up on energy amidst his best playing field.

The first body Naruto recalled taking down (after Hungry Ghost Realm, that is) was the Human Realm, and for that he was unsurprised. As it turned out, that particular being specialized in close range taijutsu, something Naruto was learning he could take out quite effectively with his slicing blows. From his research, he knew he couldn't let the man touch his head for the chance that he would destroy his mind. It was fortunate that he was fast enough to nip the Achilles tendons and collateral ligaments without having to even make contact.

After the legs came the rest of the body, and so the Human Realm met a messy end.

Next, he focused on the only female body, the Animal Realm who stayed out of the direct fighting, doing her part in summoning massive beasts. He knew if he could get the beasts out of the way sooner rather than later then it would tip the odds of the battle more to his favor.

He summoned Gamabunta, who took one good look around and gave an exaggerated eye-roll, muttering about blondes and their ridiculous tendencies to pit him against the most unimaginable beasts. Seconds later he was parrying a studded Rhino horn with his kodachi. 'Bunta wasn't the toad boss for nothing; he battled the Rhino and Centipede simultaneously until both were killed. He ran out of chakra immediately after and parted with a bid of luck.

Naruto took a ten story dive off of his summon's head and took on the Yak. The creature was easily a hundred feet tall and trampled all over the ground where it thought Naruto to be. Naruto spent quite a bit of time dodging the massive hooves, trying to gain enough footing to cause some real damage. In the end he summoned a couple hundred clones to crowd the area just underneath the summon, their eradication after being stomped on giving him more cover in the thick cloud of smoke that layered the ground.

A spinning blur had burst forth from the smoke and swiftly beheaded the Yak of immesurable size, the renegade stick arching to turn its course toward the Animal Realm. The woman tried to dodge, but the giant razor-spin that Stick had become was close enough to tear out a sizable chunk out of her torso. If she wasn't already a corpse she would have been screaming in agony.

It was in the latest hour, as the darkness of night lifted, that he began to really slow down.

He had moved one of his clones to occupy Konan for him and another to battle Pein—though instead of being able to keep up the 'one-two' attack routine, it became more of an 'attack when Pein tried to summon him into the danger zone' defense.

The clone that had disabled Animal Realm was trying to stave off Hell Realm from resurrecting her, but its attacks had diminished in power as Naruto tried to keep as much chakra for himself.

He allowed the Demon Realm, with his projectile-like limbs and serrated tail, to off his fourth clone. He held his head, sorting through the memories as fast as he could, and learned that this particular body was adept at launching missiles—

Naruto cursed, sensing several pellets approaching quickly, and leapt from the forest's shadows just in time to see the sky fill with red hot clouds as the trees were blown to kingdom come.

He coughed, wincing as the skin on his body that was closest to the explosion crackled with the movement.

Bursts of forceful wind shot out of the soles of his feet, launching him forward and out of the way from another chain of missiles. And then again. And again.

"Ah Fuck..."

Fire began to spread along the hundreds of flattened tress, heating the air around them. Any long distance wind-attacks would lead straight back to him if caught in a flame; he would have to get closer.

He abruptly changed directions, recklessly heading straight into the next batch of explosives. One of the older and better (debatably) aspects about his fighting style was that he never second guessed himself, no matter how asinine or dangerous his plan of action was, he always followed it through. Pain he could handle, but hesitation he couldn't afford. Especially in a situation such as this, where he was pressed for time before his body gave out.

They fell around him, the missiles, exploding under his feet like land mines, but he plowed through, dodging and weaving and gathering speed until he approached the hulking man's frame. An arm detached itself from Demon Realm's body, the fist closed and flying, but was knocked aside by his own powerful side-chop.

One end of Stick was gripped and swept around like a giant wand, leaving a wide arc as deadly as the sharpest of knives, shaving off the sides of the man's face and arm when he tried to avoid it.

Skin, muscle and metal plugs trashed the ground where Demon Realm used to stand.

Its head was at an odd angle as though the side that was raw and bleeding was too heavy to lift. The arm hung limply like any corpse's would, unable to launch its attacks.

Naruto took the opportunity to get up close and personal with a simple rasengan to the face, tearing out the spikes that jutted out from the skull. They fell to the floor along with the body.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the earrings he cut off, the same that adorned every other body and summon that bore the Rinnegan. If Jiraiya's message was correct, then the real Pein wasn't among the six that arrived to fight him. He was somewhere else, watching through every pair of grey, ringed eyes, safe from meeting Naruto's direct wrath.

What if he could only control the bodies through the earrings?

His revelation went no further when he received an onslaught of memories from the freshly (and violently) killed clone he had fighting the God Realm, Pein.

Shortly thereafter, the rain fell.

Pein straightened after obliterating his opponent and walked stiffly towards where he knew the real Naruto was. He knew because his rain told him that this was the source where the clones were getting their power from. They were all still connected to the original body and that was how they were able to execute such advanced techniques.

The orange-haired man was limping through the downpour towards the Jinchuuriki, bleeding from several areas on his body. He hadn't bled in such a long time.

Pein sneered as he noticed the original was limping as well, one leg a mangled bloody mess, no doubt from running through a shower of explosives just to kill off a body. The idiot clearly had no sense of self preservation.

He was also leaning heavily on his weapon and the Akatsuki leader's eyes narrowed further. Anything that that blasted slab of wood touched—even just a jab in the side—would explode as though it were ripped open into millions of tiny pieces from the inside. He saw it happen to the leg of a summon through Animal's eyes.

He really, really despised that instrument.

"_Suiton: Mizurappa!"_

The air grew denser as the rain gathered around them, most of which collected into a thick river that belted around Pein's body, temporarily shielding the man from view before it surged forward in a rampant flood.

Naruto knew he wasn't out running anything with his leg and that was okay with him. He was through with running.

The butt end of Stick slammed into ground, the wind chakra ejected from that end was so sharp and so powerful that it shattered the earth as though the Slug-princess herself had unleashed her fist. The wave caved into the new moat and Pein had only seconds to avoid the spinning sickles of air that ended up tearing through several dozen trees behind him.

The cloaked man stared at the new lake of sorts before him, unintentionally born from he and his opponent's combined efforts, and shivered. It was truly the first time Pein felt anything remotely akin to fear despite all the God Realmstating attacks displayed thorough the evening. Because Pein had seen the weapon the boy had used to create such a landmark and he had never seen a mere branch cause that amount of destruction. The rain gave him the sight and knowledge to know that the weapon was a medium, merely channeling the boy's own power.

If he were a master of the rain, then the boy was a master of wind. After witnessing the Jinchuuriki's power in longest battle he had ever been drawn into he was willing to admit that much.

Unfortunately, he still had to be eradicated.

The ragged blonde stumbled a bit after that last blow, cursing as his vision doubled. He was losing his edge, his mind and body slowing against his strongest pleas. He realized that the only way to win this would be with a huge, accurate wipeout, or to draw it out longer by biding his time and trying to gather energy. He didn't think the latter was possible at this point.

Naruto was only aware that Hell Realm had killed one of his clones and resurrected Demon Realm seconds before the bones in his right calf was shattered by a detached fist.

"Ah—!"

Gritting his teeth and not even caring if he ended up accidently leading a trail of fire towards himself, Naruto blindly swung Stick behind him in his pain. He managed to slice the offending projectile apart from the body, the force of which knocked the Demon Realm several yards back.

He was slipping if he couldn't sense that before it struck—but it was so hard when there was barely any aura to detect in the bodies...

Staggering to a standing position, biting back a cry of agony at the pressure exerted on his damaged legs, Naruto attempted to clear his mind and get a better grasp on the situation. He saw Pein raise his hand towards the heavens, no doubt ready to call forth another attack from the rain while Naruto was down.

"Enough," Naruto gasped out, his voice muffled by the deafening rain pelting down on them, yet still able to draw Pein's attention. "Enough!"

He threw down Stick and subconsciously dispelled any lingering clones, calling back all the chakra he could to himself. At first glance it looked as if he was giving up. He wasn't going to last much longer like this. It had to end. It had to before he died and Konoha fell and his daughter...his...his...

Energy swirled around him, starting at three points on his body—his feet, his core, and the top of his head—and expanding. Rain no longer touched him as the bubble of violent wind grew and hardened. He remained perfectly still as he tried to get a grip on his surroundings; the only thing moving on his person besides his whipping clothes and hair was the rainwater and blood that ran down Naruto's legs, exposed by his destroyed pants.

He didn't quite understand it, but he could even feel the fleeting life of the destroyed forest around him draw forwards and pull under his feet, adding to his power.

For the first time in over a year, he heard the Kyuubi's roar rattle his subconscious, wanting to add its own chakra, searching for a chance to break down the seal. Though he was on the brink of losing this battle, it wasn't going to happen—he could finish this.

Falling into a meditative trance, Naruto could not only hear what was happening behind him, against even the wind and rain, but could feel it too. He felt the light tremors beneath the skin of his feet as the arm of the Demon Realm's body fell to the ground in a heavy thud. A socket full of missiles was exposed.

Even encased in a cocoon of solid wind, Naruto didn't feel threatened by the prospect of being struck by fire power. In fact, it was what he was counting on...

It became obvious to him that he didn't have the strength to finish this battle, not after dragging it out for so long, separating his power across a wide plane and having it pulled in different directions—so he'd just have to borrow some from his enemies.

A series of clicks sounded as the missiles cocked into position, followed by a high-pitched whine of a power up.

Pein used his rain to gauge the amount of power that gathered around the boy in a segment of seconds and found the results to be staggering. The Jinchuuriki was soaking up every bit of chakra he could for his final attack, even leaching it from nature itself. If set free, if he didn't destroy the boy before the attack was executed, the God Realmstation would be irrevocable.

Pein had unleashed Pandora's Box, and something told him he was about to pay the price. Pride kept him from showing concern. Pride kept him from falling back.

It was his miscalculation to believe his jutsu would over power the boy's.

"_Hiyamisairu!"_

A dozen of Demon Realm's missiles rocketed towards the wind encased blonde.

"_Kozumikku Kaze Boufuu!"_

It happened almost too fast for the Rinnegan to see: a rush of fire, a furious tempest roar.

Pein only had enough time for his ringed eyes to widen in disbelief before his vision was clouded by paper.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"You think that's them?"

The skies ahead—once clear and colored with the new day—were now blackened by billows of smoke and storm clouds. The heavy rain gave the clouds the runny appearance of water thrown on paint. The smell of sulfur and blood was thick in the air.

"It's either that or Grass is celebrating Bunka no Hi early."

Sakura dropped an annoyed look over her shoulder at her smartass colleague. She and her team were quickly approaching the border by morning having traveled at breakneck speed for hours. It was times like these that Sakura was thankful for the intense training she had put herself through to improve her stamina. Her earth was nearly equal to her heaven.

"Do you feel that?" Osaka planted both feet into a tree, effectively halting the rest of the group.

"What are you doing?" Sakura snapped, "We have to go to—"

"Do you feel it?" he repeated with equal harshness. The other medics extended their senses.

"That chakra...it's—!" Shiga gasped, quickly finding exactly what had caused their companion to stop short.

With a sharp nod, Osaka began to backpedal.

"We need to back off; it's too big and too compressed."

Sakura could feel fear welling up inside her at the prospect of what could happen if they went any further, but her mind was torn.

"But what if Naruto's there?" she tried desperately. She already knew he was, and she knew what the correct course of action to take as a ninja would be. Unfortunately, it didn't match up with the course of a friend.

Aichi frowned at Sakura, not used to seeing her put personal issues before a team.

"Then he'll—"

The rest was cut off in a deafening explosion. Before being able to register anything had happened, all four were violently blown back onto the forest floor by a sonic blast, followed by a fiery cloud that just brushed overhead before rising to the sky.

Sakura was the first to recover, covered with scrapes and her hair decorated with leaves and twigs.

"NARUTO!" she screamed, stumbling to her feet and squinting into the lingering smoke that encased them like a thick fog.

"Ugh, Sakura! Wait!" Shiga called after her, but the dirty pink-hair was swallowed up by the smoggy atmosphere, "Shit, let's go!"

The other two bounded after their teammates into the abyss. Soon the smoke began to lift and what greeted their eyes could be described as nothing else but carnage. The forest, at one time lush and filled with life, was now cleared and smoldering for almost as far as the eye could see, batches of fire filling in between masses of charred wood.

Besides the swaying flames only one other thing could be seen moving: the silhouette of man on his hands and knees, his back heaving as he took great gulps of air, occasionally breaking down into blood-spattered coughs. As she drew near, Sakura realized that she knew this man.

"Naruto!"

Aichi promptly turned to relieve her stomach of last night's dinner as the putrid smell of charred flesh flooded her nostrils.

He was burned, and badly at that. His shirt was torn, exposing a bare back that was black with running cracks of liquid red. His arms and face were bleeding and charred as well, and his legs were barely recognizable, chipped bone breaking out through the shredded tissue.

Naruto looked up tiredly into his former teammate's wide, green eyes and grinned, managing one last sentence before darkness engulfed him:

"Heh—I still got it...!"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

A burdened figure broke through the God Realmstation that was once a forest, traveling at a speed most ninja could only dream of. A speed that saved his life—if only just.

Now that he was sure he was at least a good ten miles away from the battle scene, Pein finally slowed to a stop. His wounds were vast and deep; had Uzumaki really wanted to, Pein wouldn't be too hard to track down with the amount of blood he trailed behind him. But that didn't matter. Four of his bodies were destroyed—the only one left was struggling enough for him to know it wouldn't last much longer—and Konan...

After shielding him from the brunt of the catastrophe there wasn't much of a body left for her. His arms were fruitlessly trying to hold together a mangled mess of blood, bones and paper. The once beautiful woman's body was trapped in partially transformed state, the only part of her that was recognizable as human was her face. His arms were slick with her blood; he could feel the cold bones of her skull slid against his forearm, alerting him to the skinless state of her back.

It was overwhelming, this feeling he was experiencing. Nagato hadn't felt this powerless since Yahiko died—the last Jinchuuriki was a force of nature, untamed and unbeatable, and all he could do was replay the battle over and over again in his head, trying to fathom just what this child—this beast—was. How dare he...how dare he make him feel this kind of weakness. _He was a god!_

"Damn you...DAMN YOU, YOU DEMON!" Pein screamed into the stale air, clutching the blue-haired woman's body to his chest—the woman who had followed him since they were children. The only woman he could have loved if he were mortal.

He was left to his own anguish that morning—an emotion he was almost positive he had squashed from his being; after all, anguish was for humans—left alone with only the company of his childhood friend's body and the last of his backups.

Hatred swelled and festered within him; the need for justice rising like the magma of an abruptly active volcano.

If he was a god then Uzumaki Naruto was a devil. And that devil would die.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Whoa...what the hell was that?"

"**Feel familiar?"**

The man reclined against the base of a tree scratched his ear languidly, "Yeah, I guess it did. Kind of demonic wasn't it?"

"**It was youki. I'm sure of it. And it was young."**

Broad shoulders pulled away from the tree as the man sat up straighter.

"What do you mean youki? I thought only demons and Jinchuuriki can use it?"

"**..."**

"You don't think—You're saying that was a Jinchuuriki?"

"**My guess would be the last Jinchuuriki that hasn't been captured was just fighting off the Akatsuki."**

"Huh," he muttered noncommittally "Do you think he won?"

"**After an attack like that?" **the deep voice snorted, **"It had to have been several miles away and we still felt it."**

A wide grin stretched the dark face, "Gotta be Kyuubi's, am I right?"

"**You must realize that our freedom will not last much longer. Either the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki defeats them, or they will continue their plans and eventually discover that they are a few tails short."**

The corporeal of the two waved off the warning.

"Give the guy a little more credit. With power like that I'd say we're pretty damn safe"

"**Do not get cocky at a time like this."**

"_The guys in black and red,_

_Soon they'll all be dead!_

_The tides have turned,_

_They're on the flip,_

…_uh...and I like artichoke dip!"_

"**Oh, for the damnation of all that is multi-tailed and impious: **_**Shut. Up**_**."**

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

:3

XD

:P

Word.

Ok, that fight was actually **really** difficult for me to write. There was just too much for me to cover! U.U But I tried, I really did try. **More on that last attack will be releaved next chapter**.

Translations!

Hiyamisairu—flaming arrow missiles

Kozumikku Kaze Boufuu—cosmic tempest wind stormLame I know. Wah, wah.

Bunka no Hi—culture day. Yes, it's an actual Japanese holiday.

**Strider714** needs a BIG thanks because this chapter must have been hell to edit.

And thanks a ton-ton-ton-ton to all of you who read and review. It makes my heart swell with Christmas joy.

The next chap might be a little late since finals are upon me and I'm experience what the kids call "mind explosion". That's why I made this one SUPER long for ya.

**Next Chap**: be prepared for fluff and cutesy stuff and dialogue and reunions.


	15. The Long Awaited Return

**Chapter 15**

"Is he there? Is he in there?"

"Shh! Yes, Ino, now shut up! I can't concentrate!"

"But I wanna see him!"

Sakura cringed at the bleat rattling in her right eardrum. It was bad enough she had confined herself to sitting in her small doctor's office, filling out disability and clinical forms for the last couple of hours. Now she had Ino on her case, of who had burst into the hospital as soon as word got out that Naruto had returned.

"Visiting hours are over, you know that," she hissed. It was already nine o'clock and she was exhausted. It took several hours to reach Konoha and, with Tsunade still in the care of the hospital, it was up to her, her team and Shizune to patch up her old teammate.

"Oh come _on,_ Forehead. I know you got to strip him down and touch him all over. It's not fair!"

Sakura's face reddened and she had trouble concentrating on what she was trying to write on the paper before her.

"Sh-shut up! Will you stop? I was healing him you idiot!"

Ino grinned widely.

"Is that what the kids are calling it these days?"

Even if she knew Ino was kidding, it was still embarrassing.

"Ugh, you're so annoying. Get outta here; you can see him tomorrow!" Sakura growled, hunching over her desk so that Ino couldn't see the blush that refused to disappear.

Her words brought back the recent memories of running diagnostics all over Naruto's body, checking to make sure she hadn't missed anything vital when healing him. With his skin patched and smooth once more, she may have let her hands linger a bit. She couldn't help it! Even after losing so much blood he still was so warm and soft and his presence reminded her how much she had _missed him_.

"But he's just a couple floors—"

"No."

"I just—"

"No."

"You suck."

Sakura didn't react to the childish pout; it would seem she had become desensitized after dealing with whiney blondes for most of her life. A few seconds of silence ensued, where Ino stared at the top of Sakura's head and Sakura did her best to ignore the girl before her.

"So...?"

"So what?"

"How did he look?"

"...Different."

Ino's eyebrow twitched, "Well, duh! Different how? In a good way?"

A small smile worked its way onto Sakura's still-pink face.

"Yes, Ino, in a good way. Even if he's unconscious he seems so much...older. More mature. I mean, he still has blonde hair and the whiskers-marks and everything but...it was like he wasn't even the same person."

Sakura's mind drifted back the operating table she spent a good two hours at. It took all of her will power to focus on healing the body before her—as a doctor should—and not stare at his face. It was weird. Just looking at him she could tell it was Naruto; he looked like someone who she knew Naruto could have grown up to be, but after knowing him in their youth, she would never have imagined it.

As an adult, she had always pictured Naruto as keeping the round cheeks and being a bit on the short side compared to others his age. She imagined him with the same pubescent voice that she heard when he was fifteen and wearing obnoxious colors, but still endearing in his own way. Basically she just pictured a larger version of what she remembered. It made no sense to her now why she always assumed that he would remain the same forever, not after seeing him as a man.

A man...that was the problem. She could never imagine him as a man, even as teammates, even when she acknowledged his growth and power, he was always Naruto the boy, Naruto the goof to her...

And now that she saw him at nineteen, virtually done with puberty, she felt some odd mix of disbelief and wonder, with a small dose of denial.

The most drastic change she noticed about his face was the concave definition of his cheeks; rather than the cute chub they used to be, the whisker lines were now groves that waved along his bone structure. His blonde hair retained its golden hue, but was now longer, appearing shaggy around his face, a face that was much more angular and aged. He had hit a growth spurt—that much was obvious—and most likely from not living on ramen all the time. The lines and crevices on his body had deepened; the baby fat had dissolved, leaving more definition against his muscles and bone structure.

She remembered running her chakra-encased hands over his stomach, tracing the rise of his hip bones, the sinewy muscles along his pelvis—

Ugh! He was the reason why she decided to get caught up on her work rather than go home and have a much-deserved night's sleep. She needed something to keep her mind off of him. She didn't know _what_ to think at the moment, so her best solution was to not think of him at all, and Ino was making this very difficult.

He had left her. She wanted to be mad at him, really, she did, but after everything he went through could she really...?

"Mmmm`, I like older guys..." Ino mumbled to herself dreamily and Sakura stiffened, snapping out of her musing. The warning bells sounded off in her mind and she began looking at Ino as though scandalized.

"H-he's not really older!" She yelped, not understanding why she suddenly felt panicked. She just knew that she had to protect Naruto from any advances he wasn't ready for. "In fact, he's younger than you, Pig! So don't even think about it!"

Ino raised a pale eyebrow at the response, "Think about what, exactly? Don't get so defensive with me. It's not like you own him."

"Eh?" Now Sakura was confused. She never acted like she owned Naruto! What was this idiot blonde talking about? "I never said anything of the sort! I don't care if you visit him tomorrow."

"Fine then," Ino surmised, "I'll be there."

"Fine," Sakura huffed, crossing her arms with finality and waiting patiently for Ino to leave.

Ino stood from the corner of the desk she had made a seat out of.

"Fine."

"Fine!"

The purple-clad figure paused at the door and whispered, "..._Fine_."

"I heard that."

"Good, you were meant to."

"I thought you were leaving?"

"I am."

"Then go."

"I will."

Sakura and Ino stared at each other, one seated on her chair, the other lingering in the doorway.

"FINE!" Ino suddenly hollered and ran out of the small office, slamming the door shut before Sakura could get the last word in.

Sakura couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous her friend could be about anything the slightest bit competitive.

Competitive...

The smile dropped from her face and she mentally ran through the last several minutes in her mind, ever since Ino arrived.

Why had she done that? She could have easily allowed Ino a short visit to Naruto. After all, as Tsunade's apprentice she could get away with quite a bit when it came to bending the rules. But Ino's enthusiasm for seeing Naruto had made her uncomfortable.

So she lied.

She held off from allowing Ino to see Naruto. Even after healing him she refused visitors, stating that he was still in critical condition when in actuality he wasn't. She told herself at the time that she was protecting him...but from what? He was safe, back in Konoha. He had defeated Pein and had healed from grievous injuries in a ludicrously short amount of time.

So what was she doing? It was like she was keeping Naruto for herself.

In the end, Sakura chalked it up into abandonment issues and went home.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Gossip spread like the wildfires that still smoked along the northern border of Fire Country; Uzumaki Naruto had returned to Konoha in critical condition after fighting off Akatsuki and saving the village. Speculations of what went down at the border were all anyone could seem to talk about, and it wasn't just in Konoha either. The explosions sent tremors that were felt miles away, the dark chakra causing thousands of animals to desert their homes, the devastation of the forest lingering as far as the human eye could see.

People were calling it the "Battle at the Border". Academy lesson plans were being altered at that very moment.

The truth of Naruto's "mission" was being touched upon once more, his leave all those years ago being openly discussed among both ninja and civilian. Maybe he wasn't just hiding away from Akatsuki? Maybe he was guarding over Konoha? It would certainly explain why their village had been so peaceful as of late.

But on the second floor of Konoha's only hospital, in a small room where the shades drawn and the air was sterile, none of this was known to the young man stirring from slumber.

Naruto had awoken—groggy at first—and awareness settled in, causing him to fight down the light panic that rose in his throat at not recognizing where he was. The room was simple in decoration and tinted a blue-grey, but upon further waking he realized that it would have been all white had the shades been open

He was in a hospital.

He was in Konoha.

That was when it all came back to him: the battle, that last attack, seeing a woman with pink—Sakura! He saw his old teammate!

Naruto struggled to pull himself into a seated position, wincing as he realized that he couldn't move his legs very well and it was a task to breathe without feeling a sharp pain spear his chest every time his lungs filled with air.

After a bit of groping, his hand managed to find the remote call button and seconds later a nurse hurried in, middle-aged and shocked that the boy who was comatose only minutes before when she last checked on him was now upright and conscious.

"Cou—" Naruto coughed. His throat was gritty from disuse, "Could you get me the Hokage?"

The nurse blinked as his rough voice brought her out of her stupor.

"Oh, yes!" she exclaimed, touching her face, "I was ordered to alert him as well as Haruno-san as soon you woke up. I'll be back in a minute—Oh!—and welcome back, Uzumaki-san."

"Thanks," Naruto smiled at her, grateful with the knowledge that not everyone would hold a grudge against his abrupt leave three years ago. He knew it was inane to believe that anyone would still care about what happened back then, especially someone who he had never even met before, but that didn't stop him from feeling self-conscious.

He looked to the window, wishing that he could somehow draw open the shades and lay his eyes on the village that had been his home for so long. Biting his lip, Naruto tried to bend one knee in the direction of the window and held back a whimper. It would seem both his legs were still broken—odd for him, but not completely unrealistic. That battle had used up more chakra than he had expended in a long time.

Naruto leaned against the iron headboard and closed his eyes against the dizziness that had swept over him. The burns must have left him dehydrated even with the IV in his arm...

He chose to spend his wait thinking over that last attack. He had known before he had even started gathering chakra that the missiles would take to the wind like moths to a flame, he had known he was putting himself in grave danger. What he was banking on was for Pein not to pull back, for him to assume that his fire power could overpower Naruto's wind. He needed Pein to continue his attack even if it were obvious that an explosion would occur. And the man pulled through splendidly for him.

The missiles exploded into his attack and erupted, the fire catching and growing with the force of a volcano. It had rushed towards him much like Pein's river had, but instead of trying to stop it (as if he could) Naruto embraced it, adding more chakra and fueling the explosion further, taking control of the fire via the wind that made it burn so bright.

He directed it outward, guiding rather than forcing the direction of wind and spiraling the explosion outward.

Of course, this being the first time he ever tried to control fire with wind, he got burned. He got _real_ burned.

Heh, he would just have to work on that.

The aura was sensed before it even reached his hospital room, but he kept his head down, almost afraid of the disapproval he would meet.

After the door opened he heard a small gasp.

"Naruto...?"

A pang of nostalgia knotted in his chest at her voice. Naruto looked up into a familiar shade of sea-foam green.

"Sakura," he croaked, mentally wincing at the reminder of his sore throat. Sakura didn't seem to mind how he sounded and barely managed to hold back a cry as she jumped at him, throwing her arms around his neck, heedless of his injuries.

"Oh, you absolute _idiot_!" she sighed, feeling more tired than angry with him. She had had months to get over the initial shock of him being a father and an entire night to calm herself about surviving his brush with the Akatsuki. But seeing him sitting there, alive and awake..._there_, in Konoha...

She just had to make sure that this was real; that _he_ was real.

"You are never leaving this village again, you hear me? Never!" she grumbled into his ear, knowing all the while it was impractical.

"I'm sorry," Naruto choked out in reply as he pulled her closer in their embrace, "Really, I'm so sorry..."

He couldn't remember a time when Sakura had hugged him like this—or hugged him ever for that matter. There was nothing intimate about it (he could now tell the variations of love from raising his own daughter) but there was so much need and appreciation that he couldn't help but cherish it.

Sakura pulled away slowly with a small sigh, rubbing at the itch in the corner of her eye. Her eyes swept over Naruto's face—now that he was awake she could really look into those familiar blue eyes, and just like in the pictures his eyes were aged. There was something world-weary about them; they had lost that innocent sheen that had made them so attractive when he was a child. Not that he wasn't attractive—

Blushing, and just then realizing that she was holding her face inches from his, Sakura smoothly stepped back, clearing her throat and pulling a lock of hair behind her ear. Finding nothing to say, she turned away from him quickly and grabbed the clipboard on the end of his bed.

"Um...your healing is a little slow from what you're used to, I'm sure," she said, struggling to adopt a professional air in light of her blush. "Your body's still trying to catch up on all the chakra you expanded. And...it was quite a bit of chakra. We could feel it from all the way over here. Hokage-sama's still receiving letters of concern from all the northern villages. Even Earth and Waterfall are asking what was going on..."

Naruto had to smile at her nervous babbling. Though he felt a little sad to think that she no longer felt comfortable around him, as if he had been demoted from best friend to acquaintance over the course of his absence.

"You look good," he commented softly, giving her womanly figure a once over as politely as he could, trying not to look like he was coming on to her.

Sakura paused, finally stopping and facing him after her fidgety pacing. For a minute he thought she would hit him.

Then she smiled.

"Well at least now you can recognize how to properly greet a woman you haven't seen in a while," she commented teasingly, "You do too. Really good."

"Is that sarcasm?" he asked in accordance to his post-battle state of being, and a sharp pain hit him in the chest as he suddenly remembered saying those exact words to Hitomi's mother every time she greeted him like that after a day of training.

Kensha...

Sakura laughed, unawares to his internal anguish. She relaxed a little, remembering that—father or no—this was still Naruto. She took a seat at the foot of the bed and settled down into a smile.

"We all missed you, you know. Everyone. Even Tsunade-sama, who knew the details, was worried. She's fine, by the way. Just needs rest."

"Were...were they mad?" Naruto asked tentatively.

"Some were, for a while," Sakura admitted, "me especially. But we forgave you before we even knew why you left. What else could we do? You're our friend."

Naruto grinned widely. He had forgotten that he had good friends back here, he had been so integrated into Bassai that he started to lose sight of the things that made him love Konoha so much. And now, just by talking with Sakura, he was being reminded time and time again of what he left behind.

Sakura, on the other hand, chose that moment to adopt a frown. The comfortable air that had been building around the pair began to dissipate as matters that had plagued her mind for months now found their opportunity to let loose.

"And I take it you left your daughter in safe hands while you stupidly gallivanted off to fight two S-class ninjas?"

Naruto swallowed. He should have known she would figure it out; she was always so smart.

"So you know..."

At least this saved him the trouble of figuring out how to tell her himself, but it was still as awkward as he imagined it would be.

"Yeah," she said with her face hardening, "I know. What I don't know is why. Why didn't you tell me? What did I do to lose your trust?"

He glanced at her before turning away to face the window. It hurt him to see how much he hurt her, unintentional as it was, "It wasn't you, it—well, things got...complicated."

His admission did nothing to ease the pain of abandonment in her chest.

"And telling me would have made it more complicated?"

Naruto was stuck between frustration and guilt, not knowing how to explain it to her. After all, it had been so long ago, he had calmed down and matured, he had had time to think over his decision, to see the flaws and figure out what would have been better...but, as they said, hindsight was twenty-twenty.

"Sakura I—I'm sorry. I was young," and she couldn't snort and say he was still young because he wasn't, "and I was scared. I was terrified. I didn't know what to do. It was so long ago—heh—it seems like a lifetime ago actually. And there was Kisame and Kensha and so much blood and I thought I had lost them...Hitomi too. It was too much; I just—I was just so scared...I couldn't lose her too."

Sakura stared. She wanted to yell at him further but...but he had never before admitted he was scared or that he didn't know what to do. He no longer bothered to hold up a cocky front. It was torn down years ago, after his fiancé was killed while under his care, completely humbling him.

"I understand why you did it Naruto, to a certain extent. But that won't stop me from being hurt by it. I mean...you had a kid. A kid! How did you even manage to keep that a secret?"

Naruto knew it was rhetorical so he held back from answering. He had another problem to solve at the moment.

"Eh...speaking of my daughter..." he began and Sakura quirked an eyebrow at the sheepish look he was giving her, "Do you think you could do me a huge favor?"

"A favor...?"

"Yeah, see, my daughter is back at our home and since I'm here and kind of bedridden, I can't get her myself. I would really like for her to be here with me. I left her with a good friend, but I just can't have her out of my sight for this long, so...do you think you could go get her?"

As much as she wanted to meet the little girl she had seen only pictures of, she also didn't think it was something she had the time to do at the moment, seeing as they had just inaugurated a new Hokage—her first sensei at that—and were already threatened with war once.

"You think I can just up and leave and go god-knows-where to find your daughter?" she asked.

"It won't take nearly as long as you think it will, and I'll have a shadow clone take you there. I just need someone to make sure they make it back safely. Someone more permanent."

"I don't know...I mean, you did say she was in good hands, right?"

"Sakura, there's no one else I can trust with this. Please."

She wished she could have looked away from his eyes, which were doing a pretty good job of arguing his case by being wide and pleading and irresistible.

"Alright," she sighed, "But it better not take more than a few days."

Naruto was already in the process of creating a shadow clone—one with working legs.

"It shouldn't take more than **one** day," he replied and cut across his palm using his wind-enhanced claw.

"Uh...are you sure you want to do that?" the clone asked, interrupting Sakura's inquire and giving the bleeding hand a dubious look. Naruto smiled and marked on the runes anyway.

"Just don't get into any epic battles with Akatsuki and I should be fine."

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked, forgetting about the odd time frame Naruto mentioned in favor of glaring at the spot on the clone's chest where Naruto touched it. The clone didn't look any different to her...

"I'll explain it some other ti—," another wave of dizziness hit him, but this he knew wasn't because of dehydration, "Shit, using that clone is tiring..."

Sakura had to restrain herself from taking up old habits and slapping him upside the head.

"Well duh! I told you that you had chakra exhaustion! Damn it, Naruto—!"

The young man just laughed and waved her off.

"I'll be fine. The sooner you get back, the sooner I can get back the other half of my chakra."

Sakura pursed her lips, recognizing the dismissal but knowing he was right.

"This better be as short as you say it will be! I'm still upset with you."

"I know, I know. We'll talk more when you return..." Naruto trailed off as a tall figure approached out of his peripheral vision.

Kakashi had just stepped inside of the room, his one visible eye fixed on his old student's face and the white robes of the Hokage draping over his broad shoulders. It was...surreal for the seasoned ninja to see the boy of once optimal naivety to look so mature.

"Kakashi-sensei..." the words slipped unwittingly through Naruto's mouth as the two men sized each other up.

Sakura turned her head to and fro between the pair, confused by the silence.

"Um...Hokage-sama, I'll be running a small errand—"

"I heard," Kakashi interrupted her, never wavering in his stare, "Go ahead. I expect a report on the area where Naruto here has been residing all this time."

"Y-yes sir!" she saluted. She was a little unnerved by the strange atmosphere that had clouded the small room with Kakashi's entrance. Sakura motioned for the clone to follow her out, casting a worried glance over her shoulder and hoping that there wouldn't be any violence in her absence.

Even after Sakura left, the subdued air lingered. Naruto desperately wanted to look down at his lap, at anywhere really, but he couldn't seem to back down from Kakashi's gaze. Kakashi, in turn, didn't know where to even start surmising. He felt like he needed to take out the Sharingan just to fully analyze the young man before him.

"So...Hokage-sama," Naruto began, breaking out in a slow, impish grin that seemed to thaw the tension. It was frighteningly similar to the one his daughter sported when she was scheming, but no one would ever tell him that.

Kakashi sighed with a rueful smile of his own. It was still Naruto, and he didn't seem to hold a grudge of any sort about missing the Rokudaime position.

"Heh, yeah. Who'd of thought, huh?"

Naruto shrugged.

"We all knew you were next."

Kakashi quirked his brow in confusion at the admission.

"But...I thought you wanted...?"

"I'm still young; I have other things to do in my life before I need to be tied down to a chair all day long doing paperwork," Naruto admitted, thinking only of his daughter, "You on the other hand...you're an old man now."

Kakashi's dark eye flattened as Naruto laughed.

"I see you haven't changed much," the silver-haired man muttered but he didn't mean it. He always thought Naruto would grow up looking like his father, but the drawn, gaunt look around the tanned cheeks and eyes made him seem even older than he recalled his sensei being. Then again, Minato had been a lighthearted and carefree man. Perhaps, if he had lived to raise Naruto, Minato would have a similar aged look about him.

Or perhaps not; he had Kushina, after all.

There was so much Kakashi wanted to say to Naruto at the moment—Where had he been? How had he been fairing? How did he survive the battle with Pein?—but the words were jumbled, lodged in his throat and unable to manage themselves into competent sentences.

If there was one thing Naruto had gotten quite adept at from being a father, it was body language.

"I can tell you want to yell at me," he said. Kakashi sighed, knowing he would someday have to get used to this quieter, more astute version of Naruto.

"You already know what I'm upset about and why," he responded.

"And you already know why I did it."

"Right, so I guess we can skip all that."

"I guess we can."

They smiled at each other, the fondness and familiarity that was once held at bay returned. Naruto knew Kakashi was smiling because his aura brightened.

"But," the older man said, "What I would like to hear about is this child of yours."

Naruto blushed and grinned, rubbing the back of his head in an ever memorable way.

"Yeah...I'm betting granny told you after you became Hokage, huh?

"I'll admit, it's not the kind of preparation speech I was expecting," Kakashi wasn't about to tell Naruto that he had actually collapsed. "But then again, you are the most unpredictable ninja, aren't you?"

"Not sure I still hold that title," Naruto expressed, picking at the sheets bunched at his lap. For some reason he found it odd to be talking with Kakashi about having a child. He had no problem being a parent around the other adults of Bassai, but there must have been something about being near Kakashi that made him feel like a kid again. As awkward as he found it, it was still kind of nice.

"Well, we'll just have to see about that. You did just pop up out of the blue and chase off a number of enemies coming to attack our village," Kakashi chuckled.

Naruto smirked and fingered some runs in the fabric of the shirt that was given to him.

"I guess you didn't see that coming, did you? Hey...why is there a rip in this shirt?" Naruto asked while tugging at the plain hospital shirt that, now that he really looked, had a tear near the bottom hem. "Has the hospital gotten cheap while I was away? What is this?"

"Oh, that. Well, Ino was here earlier. And no one was around to protect your body."

"...EH??"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Bassai? The lumber town? _This is where you've been the whole time?!"_ Sakura yammered in bafflement as she followed her companion through the sparsely occupied streets. Though she was turning herself every which way, she barely took in her surroundings, focused instead on trying to figure out how he could have gotten away with that.

"Yep!" Naruto chirped, turning to flash her his signature grin before continuing on his way.

"B-but...but you...I mean, you were spotted all along the north...in Iwa and Kumo and...and how could you have been here? Its right next door to Konoha and—!"

"And no one would think to look here," the blonde finished, turning onto a short pathway that led them to a two-story log inn, "Not even Akatsuki."

"Well no, no I suppose not...but still..." she really didn't know how to respond to that. Going into hiding right next to the place you came from sounded so stupid it was ingenious.

"It was a big risk, I know that," Naruto admitted as he pushed through the large, wooden entry, "But it worked, and Tomi got a pretty normal childhood...well, as normal for her as I could give her."

"You mean at least she didn't end up being raised on the run," Sakura interpreted.

"Yeah...Juhi!"

Naruto's voice echoed about the empty floor and it was then that Sakura noticed they were in a woodsy furnished tavern. The sound of quickly moving feet hurrying across the upstairs floor was his answer.

"Oh, Naruto, thank goodness you're back!" a jovial voice shouted from the stairwell, "I was so worried about bandits getting you because you just _had_ to leave so late! You are absolutely ridiculous sometimes, you know that? And it took forever to get Tomi to get to sleep! She's been fussy this whole time—"

Juhi paused as she reached the bottom of the stairs, not expecting a young woman to be accompanying him. She must have been a survivor from his old village.

Hitomi, who was carried down the stairs by her pseudo grandmother, struggled until she was set down. Instead of running towards the figure of her father, as everyone present expected her to do, she cautiously took a few steps forward.

"Where's daddy?" she asked with clear disfavor.

Naruto flinched as he suddenly remembered that Hitomi was able to tell the difference between a shadow clone and a real person and cast a panicked look at Juhi.

The woman frowned at Hitomi's question as well as the startled look on her father's face.

"What are you talking about you silly girl?" Juhi questioned, setting her hands on wide hips, "Your daddy's right there!"

Hitomi ignored her, happy to see her father's clone, but still upset that Naruto wasn't there himself and tugged insistently on his pant leg.

"Where's daddy?" she repeated, a little pout forming on her lips as she switched her gaze from the clone to the stranger who came in with him.

Naruto crouched down to Hitomi's level, "We're going to see your daddy right now. He sent me and Sakura-chan here to come and get you. Say hi to Sakura-chan, she's an old friend of your dad's."

Hitomi looked up at the pretty lady through dark lashes and bit her lip bashfully.

"Hi..."

"Oh Naruto," Sakura breathed, finally able to speak after a good five minutes of staring at the toddler, "She's beautiful."

"Thanks," Naruto smiled, petting the side of Hitomi's head as the girl stepped closer to her dad's replica and away from the stranger.

"Boy, what in the blazes are you talking about?" Juhi cut in, having had enough of trying to figure out what was going on. Why did he keep speaking of himself as though he wasn't there? It made no sense!

Naruto and Sakura shared a look

"Juhi...you're like family to me," the older woman smiled with heartfelt warmth, "so I think you deserve to know the truth..."

"What truth?"

"I lied," Naruto said looking down at his feet, ashamed that he had deceived one of his most precious people for so long, "I've been lying to you this whole time. My village _was_ attacked, but it wasn't destroyed. I'm from Konoha. And I'm a ninja."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

A knock was placed gently on the sliding door to his hospital room and Naruto was startled out of his window-sight reverie. He turned his head away from the panoramic view in somewhat of a daze, still feeling woozy from splitting his chakra with the shadow clone.

"Come in," he called, not yet able to place a name to the auras he had sensed. The door opened and in walked team eight, taller and more self-assured than he recalled them being. They, in turn, did their best to hide their shock at having the Naruto they remembered be replaced with the stranger sitting in the bed. But the whisker marks were there, as were the blue eyes and blonde hair and crooked grin.

"Naruto!" Kiba was the first to exclaim upon seeing his old friend, bounding forward and clapping the sore man on his bruised ribs. Naruto winced but managed to keep his own smile.

"H-hey Kiba, ease up a bit won't you?"

The tall brunette appeared surprised for all but a second before sheepishly backing off, "Sorry about that buddy."

Hinata and Shino both made their own quiet approaches, saddling up on each side of their boisterous teammate.

"Hello, Naruto-kun," Hinata greeted softly, "We heard that you were awake and allowed to have visitors, so we decided to stop by and see how you were doing. I'm glad you're ok."

Naruto had to hand it to her; she managed to keep herself rather poised despite some erratic eye movement around his body and the fidgeting of her fingers. Her blush was only just peeking from under the collar of her jacket and around her cheekbones, but otherwise repressed.

"Thank you Hinata. It's good to see you guys," Naruto smiled. He had never talked to her much when they were younger, but she always seemed approachable and he thought it was only appropriate to be just as friendly back.

"Naruto," Shino's greeting was one word accompanied by a nod. Naruto shifted his head as well.

"Hey Shino."

"It appears your mission had ended then, has it not?"

Naruto was always unnerved by the monotonous way in which the young man spoke, and it didn't help that he could never see his eyes behind those goggles, but the laid up man made a conscious effort to remain at ease, lest he appear rude.

"Uh, yeah...yeah it is. Hopefully I'll be able to integrate back home a little bit more after I get out of here..."

Hinata and Shino were both confused by the equivocal answer but the astonished voice of their third team member cut across their questions.

"Damn! You got yourself pretty banged up, didn't you?" Kiba asked as he grabbed the clipboard from the end of the bed and began skimming over the list of injuries, "Third degree burns, fractures along the spine, two broken legs, one broken foot, crushed pelvis, punctures in the spleen and left lung..."

"Kiba-kun!" Hinata moaned.

"What? It's out here to be read! If it was classified stuff d'ya think they'd leave it out here in the open."

Naruto smiled at the pair.

"Its fine," he declared, "I did get my ass kicked pretty bad...but you should see the other guys."

Kiba laughed outright while Hinata giggled and Shino...well Shino stood there.

"Yeah...about that. I heard you took on some S-class missing-nins..." Kiba prompted with a fanged grin.

The rumors that had been flying around ranged from ridiculous to utterly impossible. He knew, of course, that Konoha was almost outright attacked by Akatsuki, but no one really knew what happened at the border...no one except the man sitting in the bed before him.

"Only two," Naruto said, "Though one did have six bodies."

"Six...I don't even want to know."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"I know."

"I'm sorr—you—I—wait, what?"

Naruto was sure he had heard wrong and clumsily straightened from his crouch so that nothing could impair his hearing.

"I know," Juhi repeated, her smile from earlier had diminished somewhat but it was still present; it was the only thing able to relax him amidst all his confusion.

"H-how?" he asked, his eyes bugging as he traded looks with Sakura. He had been so careful! He had even gotten rid of his shoes for Pete's sake! No one in Bassai had ever let on that they thought he was more than some teenaged-father refugee.

"I've had a lot of young bartenders work here over the years," Juhi began with a roguish grin, "and not one of them had ever had a body quite like yours...if you get what I mean."

Sakura was quick to cover her mouth with her hand as she watched Naruto's face go five different shades of red in a matter of a few seconds. Cherry, ruby, scarlet, burgundy and plum if she wasn't mistaken.

"Tee hee! Daddy, you look so silly!"

Naruto absently hushed her and stared at Juhi with knit brows.

"You...you knew I was a ninja? And you never said anything?"

Juhi shrugged.

"You never said anything to me, so I figured it was best not to say anything at all. I only wish that you would have confided in me earlier. What did you think we were gunna do? Kick ya out?"

"Yeah, he seems to have a big problem with that whole confiding thing," Sakura added, her own look turning sour. Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"You a ninja too, then?" the aged woman directly asked Sakura, scrutinizing the young woman who arrived with her favorite bartender.

"Yeah," Sakura answered, "I was his teammate, the one who he _didn't_ tell that he was leaving or that he had a kid."

Juhi turned her disapproving frown back on the blonde, who could only rub his forehead in frustration.

"Look—I don't even know how to explain it. I had—_have_—this terrorist organization after me. I couldn't have any leads...they had just killed her mother and I was so desperate and...and..."

Both women's looks softened as they watched him struggling.

Hitomi watched her father's face contort; picking up on the distressed and uncomfortable vibes he was sending off from whatever situation he got himself into. She didn't understand exactly what was going on, only that Juhi-baachan and that pink-haired lady were not happy with her father. Or rather, her father's specialized clone.

She quickly ran to the clone's leg and wrapped her arms around it in the best hug she could manage.

"I wanna see daddy now," she whined, clinging to the fabric of his pants with her tiny fingers. Naruto didn't know if Hitomi was acting out of selfish, toddler reasons or if she were really astute enough to know that he needed an opportunity to get out of his uncomfortable situation, but either way he was secretly grateful.

"Okay, okay, we're going." He picked her up, her arms going around his neck per their usual fashion, and turned to the innkeeper, "Juhi, I'm a shadow clone. The real Naruto is in Konoha's hospital. He...had to take care of something, er, ninja style. Ya know?"

Juhi was quite adept at reading between the lines, particularly this boy's.

"Are you telling me that he ran off and tried to get himself killed?"

Naruto answered "No" at the same moment that Sakura said "Yep".

Hitomi squirmed, "Daddeeeyyyy…!"

"Alright, alright," he mollified, "We're going, hun. Let's stop at the house first and pack you a bag."

"Oh, that's right, you have a house!" Sakura exclaimed. It was amazing that she had even caught him saying that, because for the better part of the last five minutes she had been staring at Hitomi and Naruto's interaction with her. It was all too dreamlike for her to handle; seeing Naruto be a father in pictures was one thing, but watching it happen in real life was another.

"Yeah, I—"

"Wait a minute!" Juhi interrupted, "What do you mean by 'pack her a bag'? You're not...you're not really—?"

"Oh no! No, no, nothing like that," he assured her, "I'm just going to—well, _Naruto_ is just going to have to spend some time at Konoha. Don't worry; it's still unclear on what we'll be doing, but once he's healed it's not much more than an hour's travel back here."

Juhi smiled, relieved, "That's good. I suppose I should have Yasei pull a few double shifts while you're gone?"

"Yeah, it should be good for him to have a little more work and a little less play."

Juhi pointed at him and smirked, "I'm going to tell him you said that. You know he'll really let you have it when you get back. The real you, that is."

Naruto laughed and began walking towards the exit, Hitomi in arm and a disturbed Sakura trailing behind him.

"You do that. I'll see you in a few Juhi!"

"Alright, you take care now!"

As soon as they were outside Sakura attacked.

"And what do you mean by 'spend some time in Konoha', huh? Your mission's over! It's time you came home for good!"

'_But this is my home too,' _he wanted to say, however he knew better. It was the first time Naruto realized that his clones could get headaches.

"Sakura, that's...that's something you'll just have to take up with Naruto, ok? I don't want to explain anything that he may have already changed his mind on in the time we were gone."

Hitomi didn't know what was going on or who this lady was or where they were going, so she clung to the being that looked like her father and closed her eyes, hoping that the next time she opened them he would be there.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"You look tired, are you all right?" Hinata asked Naruto suddenly. For the last several minutes Kiba had been trying to get Naruto to give him the dirt on what went down at the border. And for the last several minutes Naruto had been giving evasive and vague answers much to the dog-nin's chagrin. It was amusing to listen too, but her byakugan could see the pallor of Naruto's skin losing more and more color, his breathing becoming slightly heavier, and his movements getting sluggish—even if it was just the simple waving of a hand. She could see that he was tiring out.

"Kiba, I think we should let Naruto rest."

It was not Hinata, but Shino who had suggested it, and Hinata was once again reminded of how observant he was as well. Kiba glanced at his teammates and then back at the man who he had been pestering. Naruto's voice had been jovial and his answers sharp, so he hadn't taken note enough of the dark rings under the other's eyes.

"Ah, sorry about that," he apologized, "I guess you would be pretty tired after getting your ass kicked all over the place."

"Kiba-kun..." Hinata moaned as she began to push him towards the door. She didn't notice Naruto perk up as a rush of energy was restored to him.

"What? It's not an insult, you know that, right buddy?" the brunette directed at Naruto, who was now straining his ears, knowing what was coming.

A familiar pattern of thumps against the linoleum floors outside his door had Naruto on alert even after his clone had dispelled, letting him now Sakura and Hitomi were safely in Konoha and Juhi knew the truth.

"Don't get me wrong," Kiba assured Naruto, not realizing he didn't have his audience's full attention, "I gotta respect you for getting back here in one piece. I mean, going on some super S-class mission for years and then taking the Akatsuki head on? Not to mention killing Kisame...man, I almost forgot about that. Wow...I guess you can't get more unpredictable than that."

Judging by the sound of the weight, speed and pattern at which those little footfalls fell, she would be arriving just about...

Naruto looked at Kiba, "You're about to eat your own words, dog boy."

He was smiling even before the door was thrown violently open.

"DADDY!"

Kiba, Hinata and Shino only managed to catch a blur of yellow before a toddler was suddenly buried into Naruto's chest.

"Hey baby!" Naruto choked, squeezing his daughter to his chest.

Sakura came running in next, puffing slightly after chasing the girl through the halls of the hospital. She had no idea any toddler could run that fast or nimbly, but the little blonde had darted between legs and wheelchairs like a pro as soon as they had entered the hospital; it was like she already knew where her father was. And the door...

Sakura started as she got a good look at the crack in the frame of the door, just from the force of Hitomi opening it in her haste. What was this child...?

Her wonderings went no further once she turned to the scene before her. Naruto was clutching Hitomi to his chest in a bear hug, his eyes closed and brow furrowed as though he was just realizing how much he needed his daughter with him—even if it was just to ensure that she was safe. Hitomi in like had her arms around her father's neck going on and on about how much she missed him and why was he gone for so long and how did he get so many booboos.

"That—eht—uh—how—huh?"

Sakura looked to where the garbled noises were coming from only to see Kiba standing against the wall, looking oddly green and with his finger pointing shakily at the small reunion on the bed. Hinata also didn't seem to be fairing well, her eyes were large and disbelieving and her face ashen. She alternated between clenching her jaw and having her bottom lip tremble. Shino's face was too concealed to read any facial reactions, but his posture had slackened considerably and his arms were hung limply in front of him.

"Come on," Sakura commanded while gently pushing Hinata towards the door, "I'll explain everything later."

Shino managed to snap out of his stupor and heed her directions, but she had to return for Kiba and bodily drag the boy out, who was still babbling incoherently. Just before she shut the door she caught Naruto's eye from over Hitomi.

"Thank you," he mouthed out to her, still cradling the little blonde to his chest with fatherly protectiveness.

Smiling that the sincerity of his words that reflected from his eyes, she mouthed back:

"This isn't over."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Sooorrry!! Not only is this much later than I anticipated posting, but it is also (a) not edited and (b) had very little plot movement. And you know what I just realized? I never have Naruto returning to Konoha unless its unconscious and he goes straight to the hospital.

I'm in a dash to get to the airport, I'm going to be in France for the next two weeks so** No updates for almost a month!**

I'm serious. Its bad news bears, but once I'm back in school and spring semester has started I'll be up and running again. Expect the next chapter mid-late Jan.

I hope you all had a great Christmas, I know I did, and enjoy the new years! I'll be busy giving Americans a bad name. Hump train around Notre Dame!

Leave me some reviews so I can be Americanized when I get back! By the way, "Americanized" is a real word, according to Microsoft Word 2007 spell check.

Au revior!


	16. Daddies Don't Cry

**Chapter 16**

"What noise does a...cow make?"

"Moooo!"

"Wow! How about a...kitty?"

"Meeeeow!"

"Okay, what noise does a...pig make?"

"Oink oink oink!"

"How about a fox?"

Hitomi had never heard a fox before.

"Uh...I'm aborable!"

Her arms were thrown in the air in "banzai" formation, maximizing the cuteness factor. Naruto laughed uproariously, swiftly capturing his little girl in his arms and tickling her without mercy.

"Oh really, devil dog?" he growled over her incessant giggles, "And who told you this?"

"You did! You did!" she cried, twisting violently in an attempt to escape his attack. But Naruto held her good in his arms, not letting her escape from the hospital bed that they were both situated in.

It was this scene that Shizune had walked in on. She had been watching over Naruto's recovery for a total of two days now, witnessing his healing picking up the pace with every hour. The arrival of his daughter yesterday had created quite the stir among the ninja community; she couldn't believe the words she was hearing about Hitomi until she saw for herself the young girl who wouldn't leave her father's side.

Dark eyes shifted to the unused cot in the corner of the room, indicating that the toddler had slept in the bed with Naruto, before sliding back over to the father-daughter pair. She found it so difficult to overlap the man before her with her own memories of Naruto as a child, so she found it was easier to think of them as two different people entirely.

"Piggy!" Hitomi suddenly shrieked, bounding off of the bed with such force that Shizune almost tried to catch her. She still found it hard to believe a child that small could be so resilient—even children trained as ninja wouldn't be able to move with such agility at the age of three.

Tonton's hooves skidded on the tiled floor as the poor pig tried to backpedal away from the little blonde. Unfortunately Hitomi was too fast and before the oinker knew it, she was gripped around the neck by a strong pair of short, chubby arms.

"Tomi, be gentle..." Naruto coaxed at hearing the pained squeals of the pig. Hitomi loosened her grip a little, but refused to fully release her new friend. Naruto gave an apologetic smile to Shizune, "Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it," Shizune replied, internally wincing at the betrayed look her long-time companion sent her. "Anyway, I'm here to clear you."

"Oh? So I'm free to leave?"

Internally, Naruto was dying to get out of there. Being bedridden was cramping his style, and trying to keep Hitomi in one room for any extended period of time was proving to be nigh impossible. Convincing the doctors that he was well enough to leave had also taken quite a bit of effort, especially considering that both of his broken legs had practically mended over night.

He couldn't totally complain, however; compared to every other hospital memory he had, this one was probably his most enjoyable stay. He was constantly being visited by his old friends. Team ten stopped by a couple of times (with Ino fawning over Hitomi and Shikamaru shaking his head in disbelief, repeatedly muttering "troublesome"), Kiba dropped in once more to invite him out for a barbeque-reunion when he got out and Sakura was constantly checking up on him (in other words, trying to convince him to permanently move back to Konoha).

"Well, not quite," Shizune said, shattering the blonde's building hope of escape, "Tsunade-sama is going to stop by in a few, she's just been released this morning, and she'd like to run a few tests to make sure you check out for active duty."

"Check out for...Wait, so these are physical tests?"

"More or less," Shizune conceded, and as she spoke she pulled out a small, black bottle from her kimono, "She'll be testing your chakra composition as well as running some tests over blood and tissue samples we collected. By the way, I need a sample of your chakra, so if you would gather some for me..."

"You collected this...while I was unconscious?" he asked, holding out his hand and molding some chakra into his palm. It took form above his skin, visible for all but a second, before it was swiped up into the odd jar Shizune was holding. The brunette quickly covered the expressly reinforced container and pocketed it.

"Well, we had to make sure you haven't returned to Konoha carrying any diseases. This is standard protocol for all returnees of long-term missions."

Naruto frowned and climbed out of the bed. Hitomi had disappeared somewhere underneath it with the pig.

"My mission isn't quite over yet," he argued and at Shizune's befuddled expression he elaborated, "The Akatsuki is still out there, and as long as I'm alive I don't think they'll ever stop hunting me."

"Well _I_ think that you have more than succeeded," a new voice joined them. The person to whom it belonged to appeared so suddenly that it must have taken the skill of a kage for Naruto not to notice until then.

"After all," Tsunade continued, looking more enfeebled than ever before, "the terms were that you become "strong enough to protect Konoha and your family" and you have demonstrated that splendidly."

"Tsunade-baachan!" Naruto exclaimed his voice laced with both shock and excitement. Gone were the smooth skin and knock-out figure that the former Hokage of Konohagakure once sported. Now the grayed-blonde was covered in tough-yet-soft folds of skin that stretched over the bones of her drained frame. She appeared shorter; perhaps it was the new slouch she stood at or perhaps he was just too tall. Had...had he really had a part in this?

"Oh don't look at me like that," Tsunade growled at his despairing face, "weren't you the one who was always complaining about how it wasn't classy for a woman to hide her age? And just look at you! What a man you've become, huh?"

Naruto chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck.

"You think so?"

Tsunade smiled.

"I know so," she murmured before pulling him down towards her and kissing his forehead as she once did so many years ago. Naruto breathed in her familiar scent; unlike her appearance, she still smelled as he remembered her: of sandalwood and jasmine.

"Now where is that adorable little girl of yours," Tsunade exclaimed with a clap of her hands and a meaningful look at the hospital bed. The act was so grandmotherly that Naruto had trouble recalling her as the same hard-ass Hokage she once was.

"Hitomi," Naruto called, crouching by the foot of the bed, "come out here, there's someone I'd like you to meet."

Nothing happened at first, and then a pig shot out from under the bed, squealing its little head off as it raced towards its safe haven behind Shizune's legs. Only then did the three year old emerge, darting right for her father's awaiting arms.

Tsunade nearly went ballistic.

"Oh, she's just so precious! Even cuter than her pictures!" she gasped, squaring her face down to Hitomi's level, "Hello sweetheart, I'm your baa-chan. I held you when you were just a little baby."

Hitomi looked bewilderedly to her father, as if seeking confirmation and he nodded. It was enough for her; Hitomi returned Tsunade's smile, feeling at ease with someone her dad seemed to trust so much.

"Can I hold her?" Tsunade asked; while her voice sounded light, Naruto could see the desire that had been building over the last few years in those honey eyes. He nodded and, with a soft chuckle, pulled the clingy blonde away from his body.

Hitomi resisted for only a second, but soon allowed the woman who claimed to be her grandmother to take her in her arms. She was a bit confused: she thought Juhi-baachan was her grandmother...but maybe she could have more than one! Lee-lee had two...

"She is so cute! You are so cute, yes you are!" Tsunade cooed, tickling the little pot-belly through the small, yellow shirt. Hitomi cried out in laughter for the second time that morning as she was tickled once again.

Shizune loudly cleared her throat, bringing all attention back to her, "Tsunade-sama, the tests, if you will?"

"Ah yes, thank you Shizune," reluctantly Hitomi was returned to her father, who placed her on the bed with a firm 'sit still'. "Well, I'm not going to lie Naruto, we were confronted with some...unusual results."

Naruto cocked his head to the side, "How so?"

"Don't look so worried, you aren't sick or anything. Quite the opposite actually—you're height and weight are in excellent shape, the same goes for your body composition. It was the finer details that had us surprised. For one, the tissue sample showed the number of mitochondria in your cells is around three to four times that of the average shinobi."

"..."

"You have incredible stamina," Shizune dead panned.

"Oh, well yea, I knew that."

"Don't be so nonchalant about it!" Tsunade snapped, "I've never seen anything like this before; it's more than I've ever seen in a single cell! And not only that, but your cells are not _dying!_"

Naruto looked to Shizune for more clarification but the dark-haired woman seemed just as lost as he was. Tsunade rolled her eyes.

"I mean they keep reproducing...they don't stop. Normally, cells can only multiply a number of times before they are unable to. My Sōzō Saisei, for example, forces my cells to continually reproduce, allowing me to regenerate from grievous wounds in battle. Speeding up my cell division like that is what accelerated my aging. It was a technique that would have benefitted a shinobi who wasn't expecting to live this long, I'll admit. And before now I thought that it was just as dangerous for you."

"You mean when I was learning my rasenshuriken," Naruto began slowly, trying to relate to what she was telling him, "you thought that forcing my body into advanced healing like that was actually bringing my body's cells to their limit faster?"

"Exactly. That's what ages people. But I can't for the life of me understand how this is possible."

"Really? Because that is something I _can_ answer," Naruto spoke with dawning.

"You can?"

"Yeah...," he grinned, amazed at how clear it all was, "It's my youki."

"...Your what?"

"Youki," Naruto repeated, unabashed, "youkai magic."

Shizune wanted to laugh, "You can't be serious Naruto. Magic? Demons have magic?"

"Yes," and because he was so frank in answering her, the smile dropped from her face, "All demons have magic. And it's called youki. It's not like chakra; it's not their life force or spiritual energy or whatever. It's just the magic that makes them the supernatural beings that they are. I've developed my own from growing up with a demon sealed inside me and being exposed to Kyuubi's since birth. Hitomi has hers as well. Technically we're demons."

Tsunade was shaking her head.

"That just doesn't make sense. What is it about this...youki that keeps your cells proliferating?"

"I told you, it's magic. I have no other way of describing it."

"Magic?"

Naruto nodded.

"Magic?" she repeated.

He nodded again.

"Naruto, there is no such thing as magic."

"Yeah, and there's no such thing as demons too, right?"

"That's different. Demons have been seen and fought—"

"And now you're seeing this," he interrupted irately, "How do you think it is that demons can live for thousands of years? That they can lift things a hundred times their size or take down entire mountains? It's how they possess people or haunt their dreams or whatever other freaky stuff they do. It's the magic that is unique to them. Youki."

"That's...its just ridiculous."

Naruto sent Tsunade a sour look.

"You know what, its fine. You don't have to believe me. Just know that my regenerating abilities have no adverse affect on my body. Can you handle that much?"

Tsunade was a medic—a scientist—she would never fully grasp the unexplained wonders of their world or the next, and Naruto saw no point in trying to explain himself any further.

"But...I don't understand—"

Apparently the same would go for Shizune as well. Fortunately, for Naruto's patience, a fifth person entered the room at that moment. Tsunade smiled.

"Ah finally, you're here. And just in time too. I need you to check the seal. Naruto, you remember—"

"Muh-Moegi-chan?" Naruto stuttered, only then recognizing the carrot-top by her signature rosy cheeks and dark eyes. The fifteen year-old before him resembled nothing of the awkward child who had stumbled upon him in the grocery store so long ago. She was tall and lean, with short stylish hair and an edge about her that gave her a fierce sort of appeal. New curves were just developing, showing through the tight layers clothes she wore.

"Hey Nii-chan!" Moegi greeted and immediately wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a hug. She didn't go for the waist like she used to when she was a little girl—she saw him as her equal now. Naruto was delayed in returning the hug, but he could be forgiven for his shock. The confident young woman before him was the last person he expected to walk through that door.

"I kept my mouth shut, just like I promised," she whispered in his ear before pulling away with a hop and a wink.

"Moegi here is our resident seal-mistress-in-training," Tsunade introduced. "She's going to be checking out your seal to see if there have been any changes."

Naruto nodded dumbly.

"Hitomi-chan!"

The three adults jerked at Moegi's unexpected squeal. The young woman had spotted the toddler on the bed and was bubbling over in excitement as she patted her head. Hitomi wore the same stoned expression as last time she met the red-head.

"Remember me? Probably not, you were just a little baby at the time. Look at how big you've gotten! Nii-chan, I can't believe it! What have you been feeding her?"

Naruto finally regained the use of this tongue and smiled kindly "Everything and anything. Eating is her favorite hobby."

"I'll say, look at this cute little belly she has going on here—"

"How is it that you know Hitomi?" Tsunade cut in sharply. Naruto and Moegi froze, exchanging quick glances.

"Uh, w-well, you see ma'am, I kind of ran into him on a mission in..."

"Bassai," Naruto nodded to her, indicating that it was okay to talk about now, "I had asked her not to say anything, Baa-chan."

Moegi didn't feel quite as at ease as Naruto appeared to be about the ordeal; while she didn't outright lie to her Hokage, technically she was still withholding information.

"He said that even you didn't know where he was, Tsunade-sama, so I figured it would be best not to bring it up to you as well. I'm sorry!"

"And when was this?" The elder woman asked, unable to believe that she had a ninja among her ranks who knew more about Naruto's situation that she had—one who had been a gennin at the time, no less.

"Oh...a couple years ago?" Moegi ventured.

Naruto clicked his tongue, "Yeah, I'd say Hitomi was about six months or so. I was just starting her on solid foods so...yeah, a couple years ago."

Tsunade sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"Figures...that had to have spurred you into taking your kunoichi training seriously," she muttered, recalling the sudden intensity at which the former gennin had started training.

"So, seal mastery, huh?" Naruto whistled, sounding impressed and giving Moegi an appraising look. He would have never expected her of all people to pursue such a precise and obscure branch of study. But Konoha could certainly use a fresh expert, especially with the Fourth, the Third and Jiraiya gone. He himself learned quite a bit in his self-studies, but not nearly enough to be considered a master. His focuses lie in the sage arts, after all.

"And she has quite the talent for it as well," Tsunade added with a grin.

Moegi flushed for all but a second under Naruto's scrutiny and Tsunade's compliment before composing herself.

"Alright," she snipped, sounding as professional as she could, "Shirt off, on the bed, lie down."

Naruto complied immediately, amusement shining on his face. After shedding his top, he plucked his daughter from the mattress and handed her over to the more than willing Tsunade. Once he was lying down he channeled some chakra to his stomach without any prompting, bringing the intricate seal into view.

"Wow...so this is it?" Moegi whispered in awe, her fingers gingerly tracing the inked edges of the spiral. "The Hakke no Fuin Shiki...I feel like I'm touching a piece of history."

While under study in the sealing field, she had been informed of Konoha's most notorious sealsmen and, of course, the masterpieces they produced. The Yondaime's final sealing was something that had boggled her mind for years, especially when she learned of who the sacrificial child was. But Moegi's interest in the seal bordered more on the sealing mechanics used rather than the significance of being a Jinchuuriki.

"You're touching my stomach, actually."

The young woman slapped the flat surface of his navel.

"Oh hush. Now it looks as if one of the two Shisho Fuin is starting to fade. The space between the two was meant to allow the Kyuubi's chakra to mix with your own. The seal was meant to purify it as it passed through to mingle...but with these four symbols fading the purification process has been diminished greatly. Nii-chan, this could be very dangerous for your body. The Kyuubi's demonic chakra can damage your entire chakra network; it could even poison your glands, you blood...I don't know how you've remained unharmed until now."

"I think," Naruto begin with a low grunt as he sat up, "that is another thing that can be explained by my youki."

Moegi stepped back, pouting slightly from being denied any more time with the seal, but more so confused on what he was talking about.

"O geez, not this again," Tsunade groused good-naturedly.

Naruto gave her a flat look, "My guess is that my youki is mimicking what the seal was meant to do. I can feel it happening sometimes when I've over trained...it's a defense my body's come up with against a potential hazard. Honestly, I'm not concerned. I just let it do its thing."

Tsunade frowned at him, not liking that train of thought in the least. Then again, it was long since established between the two of them that they each had a very different idea of what was best for his body. Tsunade believed in intervention and control. Naruto was just a go with the flow kind of guy.

"Are you saying that your youki is converting the Kyuubi's chakra into your own?" Shizune asked.

"Actually, I think it might even be my chakra that's doing it. I've suspected it for a while now."

The three women stared at him.

"That sounds dangerous," Tsunade declared, "I believe, even with this...youki of yours...that amount of chakra in your body could have adverse affects. It just doesn't match up to your size."

"I know," Naruto sighed and it was almost shocking for one such as him to admit such a thing, "I guess I was so focused on getting stronger, trying to increase my own chakra enough to battle the Kyuubi's...that I didn't think about the consequences."

Moegi repressed a snort. That sounded like his kind of thinking pattern.

Shizune shook her head, still unable to believe what she was hearing, "Wait, Tsunade-sama, are you saying that Naruto is in danger because he has too_ much_ chakra?"

The elder nodded and pinned Naruto with a hard look.

"I think it would be best to slow down on your training," she ordered, "If you have a source of chakra being pumped into your network in addition to your own substantial supply...well, I suppose I'll just have to do some more research on the matter. Heaven knows I have the time now."

"Maybe we should get a Hyuuga to take a look at him," Shizune suggested. Tsunade shifted the toddler to her other hip and Naruto absently noted that his daughter had been oddly quiet for the last several minutes. Perhaps she was better at reading the atmosphere than he gave her credit for.

"Yes, I expect that would be best. But for now, why don't we let Naruto get settled in. This little darling looks exhausted."

"She's probably a bit homesick," Naruto sighed, recognizing the pouting look on Hitomi's face that was currently nuzzled into the crook of Tsunade's neck. He didn't bother putting the hospital shirt back on. Instead he went to one of the sealing scrolls that his clone and Sakura had collected from Bassai and unsealed a simple outfit of pants and a long-sleeved shirt. He began to change, unmindful of the other occupants in the room.

Moegi 'eeped' and turned around to face the wall, making the older two women laugh at her modestly. She was still just a girl, after all.

"You have quite a sum of money to pick up," Tsunade informed him cheerfully, "Both for your long term mission and from keeping Pein from attacking Konoha...which was agreed upon to be labeled S-class."

Naruto whistled as he buttoned his pants.

"Actually, I was thinking of renting apartment here in Konoha, anyway. I mean, I already have a house in Bassai, but seeing as it's only about an hour away I might as well take up residence here too."

"Ah, Nii-chan, you have a house? That's so cool!" Moegi gushed, turning away from the wall to find he was fully clothed, "You're like a real grown-up!"

Naruto chuckled and ruffled her hair, much to the girl's chagrin, "Yeah, something like that. Anyway, I think I'll go check out that apartment by the park they were building when I left. Is it finished yet?"

Tsunade had to think for a moment of which complex he was talking about.

"Hmm, that one? Oh, yeah, I think they finished about a year ago," she replied.

"Great."

"Konohamaru-kun will come visit you when he gets back from his mission, okay Nii-chan?" Moegi stated, "I'll visit you too."

"That'd be great," the young man breathed, "I may even need you to babysit every now and then since Hitomi seems to like you enough. I don't think that's something I would subject to some unsuspecting, green gennin team when the time comes."

They laughed at the thought of the potential D-ranked mission while looking at Hitomi. The little girl lifted her head and blinked, not understanding what was so funny but somehow knowing that it had to do with her.

"Come on big girl," Naruto said, taking Hitomi from her new grandmother and setting her on the ground. He collected the three scrolls filled with the belongings for their (not so) temporary stay.

"Where ah we go-wing, daddy? She asked, grabbing his large hand and toddling along to keep up, "Ah we go-wing home?"

"No...we're going to visit your mother."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Looking over what remained of the group he organized over a decade ago, Uchiha Madara could only utter one thing:

"This...is most unsettling."

It was a huge blow for the Akatsuki, both the defeat of Pein and the death of Konan. Pein was forced to find replacements for all six of his bodies in the end, something he was strangely infuriated about. If Madara hadn't known any better, he would almost think that the stoic man held some sort of attachment for that Yahiko one.

Of course, he couldn't fault Pein or Konan for their failure. Madara had sworn to himself that he wouldn't underestimate the boy, yet in the end, despite his best efforts, he had anyway. The child—or at this point, worthy foe—had exceeded every expectation Madara harbored for him and then some. It was thrilling for the old doyen to encounter someone so out of the ordinary. In another life, they would have made quite the pair.

Or...perhaps that possibility was not quite out of reach just yet.

"Unsettling?" A disembodied voice rolled out from beyond the shadows. Two grey-ringed eyes poised within a technicolored figure were wide and lurid. "That _thing_ was nothing of what we expected it to be. He wasn't even using the Bijuu's power! He's absorbing it much too quickly—we'll never accomplish our goals at this rate. We are missing a Bijuu and a half, no thanks to the children that you allowed into this joke of an organization."

Had the orange-swirled mask not been present, Madara's delicately raised eyebrows would have been visible.

"My, my, aren't we singing a new tune as of late. I thought that this organization was exactly what you needed to complete your goals?"

"As did I," Pein snarled, "But I feel as though we are slipping from the path we were once on."

There was one other person at that moment whose fury could have matched that of the defeated Rinnegan wielder. Uchiha Sasuke. It was a testament to Madara's character that the man didn't cower under sheer amount of killing intent radiating on him from two very discontent and capable shinobi.

The former Konoha-nin couldn't for the life of him understand what had happened. How could Naruto be that powerful? Even the Sannin Jiraiya couldn't defeat Pein and yet the self-proclaimed "god" was the one who was sent back with his tail between his legs. And to think he was worried about missing his opportunity to face his old teammate. Now he was feeling insecure about his own prowess.

"How...how could he have been so powerful as to...? He was nothing against me the last time we met. He never had been." He'd never admit it to anyone, but Sasuke's desire to confront Naruto had diminished greatly.

"Clearly, he hasn't been sitting on his ass these past few years. Unlike us, who've done jack shit," Suigetsu snapped. He had been getting antsier as of late and his patience with both of the Uchiha's was wearing thin. He was grateful for Sasuke springing him from Orochimaru's cells and all, but his loyalty to the boy was waning in their idleness. He didn't care much for Sasuke's personal revenges; he just wanted to continue with his quest of collecting all the _remaining_ swords of Mist's swordsmen. Oh, and to kill that blonde bastard.

"It's called meditating," Sasuke hissed, "You know I train more than anyone else in this damn cave."

"Probably 'cause you need it," Suigetsu mumbled starkly. Karin kicked his shin from under the table and secretly wished Juugo would return from patrol. If things got ugly between them he was usually the only one who could calm the pair down.

"Well," the masked man spoke, addressing all who were present, "it is obvious that our plans must change. We cannot go after Konoha as we are now—"

"Are you kidding me?" snapped Sasuke, "You said yourself that he's absorbing the Kyuubi—you'll never get it at this rate. I've been waiting for my revenge, our revenge for our family—"

"_And you will wait a little longer," _Madara spoke more strongly, sending the young man into quietness, "Even if we were to get the Kyuubi before Naruto fully consumes him, how do you propose we seal him with only six of us? You have already proven your incompetence with the Hachibi. We need more members; we will have to spend our time recruiting."

Madara had waited and plotted for decades before, and he could do it again. Setbacks such as this weren't as catastrophic to him as they were to say...the younger crowd.

While they knew it was necessary, the new course of action had left a bad taste in the mouths of those donned in cloaks. It looked as if Akatsuki was losing power and it was losing sight of what it once stood for. Regret was beginning to settle in the minds of those who were clouded by their ideals. Regret for aligning themselves to someone else's goals in hopes to accomplish their own. Regret for passing on opportunities in the name of something they themselves didn't fully believe in.

But, as it turned out, regret and remorse were two very different sentiments. And that was how Madara knew they would continue to follow him.

0o0oo0

* * *

0o0o0o

Naruto had never been to this particular end of the Konoha Memorial Cemetery. For both the Third and Asuma's funeral he stood in the shinobi segment—a predominantly more crowded area with hundreds of identical tombstones lain out for acres. In fact, now that he thought about it, both funerals had been in the same exact spot. The Sarutobi's most likely owned a family plot.

But now he stood on the civilian side, with fancier headstones that were farther spaced apart. Apparently, when one got to live out most of their life and didn't spend it killing, one managed a more intricate burial.

Unlike its neighbors, the tombstone he stood before was rather plain with merely two lines of script:

_**Usukane Kensha**_

_**Loving mother, loving fiancé**_

He tried to picture the funeral service, tried to overlap it with what he remembered of Asuma's and Jiji's...but the harsh truth of the matter was that no one had probably gone to her funeral. Who had she known here? He had been too afraid to expose her as his pregnant fiancé; he had too much insecurity about how he would be viewed, about what would happen to their tentative relationship...

...Damn it, he was such a _child_.

Kensha was alone in life, just as she was alone in death. She had to go through the pregnancy alone, unsupported. Her life with her father was cold and friendless, but at least she was safe and comfortable. If he hadn't pushed her to be more reckless...if he had just said 'no' that night, that night that she—he exhaled heavily, his nerves getting the better of him—at least she'd be alive.

That would have been better than everything he put her through, right?

The feel of Hitomi's little hand in his own gave him the strength to address the one thing he had dreaded since the day he left Konoha.

"Hey Kensha...," he spoke softly, feeling a little weird talking to a stone, "I know it's been a while. You've probably been wondering why I just left you here three years ago. I—," his voice suddenly cracked as emotion welled up inside of his throat, choking his words, "I am so, so sorry you died. It shouldn't have happened. I—I was supposed to protect you! I promised I would come back but...but I was too late. I can't imagine how scared you must have been...wondering where I was while...while he..."

His throat seized, his mouth unwilling to voice what his mind tried to imagine.

"Oh God," he moaned, covering his eyes with his free hand. He couldn't do this; he couldn't stand in front of the grave of a woman whose death he was responsible for and ask for her forgiveness.

"Daddy...?"

Hitomi had never seen her father cry before—well, not that she could remember at any rate—and it frightened her. Because he was her daddy and he wasn't afraid of anything. Daddies don't cry.

Naruto coughed and rubbed his eyes, crouching down to his daughter's level and putting a hand on the small of her back.

"This is Hitomi," he said to the cold stone, "your—_our_ baby. Isn't she beautiful? She has your face and your nose...and that same little dimple you had. She even has the name you wanted. It—it fits her well. But you already knew that, didn't you?"

Throughout all that he was saying—even though he knew it was things that Kensha would have wanted to hear—he couldn't help but feel for the injustice of it all. He couldn't help but think about how _unfair_ it was that she had to die and not him. She shouldn't have ever had to encounter Kisame in the first place. He could save Konoha a thousand more times in his life, but it would never erase the one time he was needed most and failed to be there.

"I wish you could have been there to see her take her first steps...or...or to hear her first word...which was 'daddy', by the way—heh, go figure. And she smiles so much, you wouldn't believe it. She eats just about everything too; you totally called that...you used to say how her appetite was just like mine, remember? And how she would probably be a ninja because of how active she was in your stomach...well, she's definitely active. Heh, I can't get her to sit still for five minutes. And she's _so_ smart. Not like me at all...she must have gotten her brains from you because she picks everything up so quickly. And her friends...she's not like either of us there, she has so many friends. She just goes and talks to every kid in her class. I'd like to think that she's living the life that both of us wished we had..."

He bit his lip. His chest hurt; he was finding it difficult to swallow.

"I wish—I wish I didn't leave you—ever. You were so wonderful...you would have been a great mother. Hitomi needs you...I need you too. Sometimes...sometimes I don't think I can do this alone."

Naruto didn't know that he had tears running down his cheeks until he felt small hands touch his face. He startled and stared at the young blonde who looked about ready to cry herself. The poor child was too confused, unable to fathom why they were here or why her father was so upset.

Naruto swallowed and rubbed her back, trying to be as soothing as he could without distressing the bewildered girl anymore.

"Hitomi, baby, this is where your mommy is buried."

Hitomi knew what a mommy was; she had seen the other kids' mommies at school. But whenever she asked where her mommy was, her father always said that she was in heaven and that was up in the clouds. She used to ask when she was going to come back. She couldn't remember if her daddy ever answered her.

She stared at the patch of ground that her father had gestured to.

"But why is she in the durht?"

"Because Daddy's an idiot."

The blonde giggled and Naruto gave a half smile. He wasn't going to lie to his daughter. When she was old enough, and wanted to know the truth behind her mother's death, he would tell her. He would give her the full story and hope that one day she would forgive him for depriving her of a mother.

The wind picked up, swirling around the living pair, caressing his face with an almost familiar touch. For the briefest of moments Naruto could have sworn he heard a tone within with the breeze, but all too soon the air settled once again, leaving him feeling oddly comforted.

He smiled and looked down at Hitomi, "Hey...did I ever tell you that your mommy was a princess?"

The toddler immediately lit up and nodded her head enthusiastically. She loved hearing about her "princess" mommy and how her daddy swept her out of her bedroom window where she was locked away by her mean father. It was like a real-life fairytale.

"Does that mean I'm a pwincess, too?" she asked with honest curiosity.

"You're an imp," was his answer, and his swung her up onto his shoulders, "That's what you are: my beautiful, baby imp."

That sounded even better than a princess to her ears and she grinned broadly, grabbing at his hair.

"Come on," Naruto said, "let's go apartment hunting. And then we can get groceries."

Hitomi knew what groceries were.

"Yuss! Food!"

Naruto laughed, "Yes, chubbo, food. Man, you're getting to be a little piglet."

"No!"

"Yes you are."

"No!"

"I'm gonna call you Tonton from now on."

"NO!"

The young father playfully argued with his daughter as he exited the cemetery, the orange light of the dipping sun casting long shadows from every grave to follow their trail. A weight had been lifted from Naruto's shoulders that afternoon; the guilt he harbored for three years had lessened extensively. It wasn't gone, it would never be gone, but something had soothed the burden in his heart while he knelt by the grave with his daughter at his side. Something touched him, told him that he wasn't alone. He felt like he could breathe easier, he felt younger, he felt like he had a future to look forward to and not just a life of trying to right past wrongs.

He felt like he could finally live for himself.

0o0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o0o

**Hakke no Fuin Shiki: Eight Trigrams Sealing Style**

**Shisho Fuin: Four Symbols Seal**

I am SO SORRY for taking so long. Actually, this was done Saturday, but my beta has gone all crazy so...yeah. I wanted to make the one month mark T_T

This was actually supposed to be a lot longer, cuz there was so many other things happening I wanted to get out, but then I realized it would be better if I just cut the chapter in two. So that's what I did. The result: you get to read something now.

I know it may seem like things are getting boring...well that's because they are, kinda. This is meant to be a slow fic punctuated by bouts of action. So relax.

Er...some people think I've overpowered Naruto...have you read the manga? And remember, Naruto's already completed some of the sage training on his own; he's been doing self-study for the last couple years, with the aid of kage bunshin training for three years straight. Do the math. He won't be getting much more powerful. In fact, sooner or later the backlash will occur. Wah wah.

Unfortunately, updates may be farther spaced apart. This major is kicking my ass like woe, so we may be looking at every other week updates instead of weekly ones. Lo siento!

**Next chap: **Danzo, Killer bee, and BBQ oh my! Hitomi meets her nemesis and...le gasp! Where be Stick?

ONE THOUSAND REVIEW MARK HAS BEEN HIT!!!! Oh man, you guys are awesome possums. No lie.


	17. Sans the Class

**Chapter 17**

It was the third time he had walked through the streets of Konoha since his return and it still left him feeling unnerved. Glares, curses, disgruntled mutterings behind his back, he could handle...maybe. It _had_ been a while since he was subjected to that. But the pointing and the giggling and the cooing, the stares and whispers and tentative waves...it was getting to be a bit much. Yes, he had a daughter, was it really that weird?

Perhaps for the people of Konoha, who last knew him as a boisterous and irresponsible young prankster, it was. He would have to work for a different kind of respect now. One not attainable through demonstrating his power, but by reason and example to prove he was a capable adult. How boring.

"Oooh! Carrot-tinies!" Hitomi cried from atop his shoulders as he neared a vegetable stand. Her yell was loud enough to catch the attention of the vender, who smiled pleasantly at the potential customers. "Down! Down!"

In her demands, she began to inadvertently slap his head.

"Ow! Hitomi, calm down," he ordered and quickly swung her forward, flipping her off of his shoulders and placing her on the ground. She thought it was all good fun and gave a whoop of delight as she descended, torn blonde hairs flying from her fists.

"Kids, they're getting so rowdy these days," the vender chuckled with amusement. He was a portly fellow with a thick mustache and kind, brown eyes. Naruto dimly remembered him from many years before—and those eyes weren't always so kind.

"Tell me about it," he said, ignoring all past prejudices and smiling right back.

"I want tah go tah that one!" Hitomi pointed to a booth two stands over that was selling breads and cereals.

"But you just—," Naruto stopped and sighed, "Let me get some vegetables first and then we'll go over."

"Can I look now? Puurleease?"

Hitomi didn't take her eyes off of the loaf of sweet bread that was on display, beckoning her. Naruto could see her tongue hanging out of her mouth, getting spit all over her chin. He knew that trying to keep her calm by his side would only make the simple task of picking vegetables that much harder.

"Fine, but your tongue in your mouth, you're going to give yourself a rash. And stay where I can see you!" he called after her as she ran several yards down the road. Luckily the streets were sparsely crowded that day; otherwise he would have never let her away from his side. He kept one eye trained on her and began to select what he deemed were the freshest vegetables, shaking his head all the while. More and more these days he found himself envious of his daughter's energy.

"Naruto!" The voice that called out his name was older, more feminine, and succeeded in making the vender do a double take at his cheeks, squinting to make out the 'whiskers' beneath the whiskers. Suddenly uncomfortable, Naruto turned away and scanned the surrounding area for the source of call.

He found it in the form of a tall, black haired woman.

"Kurenai-sensei!" he exclaimed.

She had a basket hanging off of one arm with a few food products rolling around within and a young boy in the other—a feat Naruto _knew_ was harder to manage than it looked. Despite her engaged state of being she was smiling widely.

"No need to call me sensei, from what I hear you've long since surpassed me. I didn't expect to run into you, today. I thought you were still in the hospital?"

"Oh, they just released me," he answered pleasantly before giving a meaningful look at the child in her arms, "This is Asuma's—?"

"Yes, this is Keiji," Kurenai said while giving the boy in mention a sweet glance. Keiji looked to be around a similar size as Hitomi, with spiky black hair and his mother's red, ringed eyes. He was staring openly at Naruto with the same bewildered expression that Hitomi wore when she encountered strangers.

"Dis one, daddy!"

Speak of the devil. Hitomi had returned with a box of cereal that would have better been labeled as boxed candy.

"D-daddy?" Kurenai looked from Naruto to the little girl sporting identical blonde hair and blue eyes. "You're—?"

Naruto chuckled bashfully.

"Eh, yeah. This is Hitomi, my daughter. Tomi, this is Kurenai and her son Keiji. He's probably around your age," he turned to address the Jounin once again, "Am I right?"

"Must be," Kurenai ventured, still blinking owlishly at the whiskered child, "he was born in December."

"Ah, she was August. Close enough."

Hitomi overlooked the red-eyed woman and instead paid heed to the young boy situated comfortably in her arms, looking down on her. This would not do.

"I want up too!" she demanded, tugging on Naruto's pants insistently.

"You just wanted to get down," he replied exasperated, but appeased her at any rate, "And we're not getting this because last time you wouldn't eat it."

"I thought Kiba was joking...and Shikamaru. I thought it was just a big prank they were all playing," Kurenai muttered. She honestly should have known better—Shikamaru wasn't the type to waste so much energy in convincing someone of a joke, but who could blame her? This was Naruto they were talking about—a sweet kid in his own right, but not the most responsible. Well...clearly if he got someone pregnant.

"Heh, that seems to be everyone's mind frame. Nope, what you hear is probably true."

Kurenai was thankful he didn't take offense to her skepticism. He was probably used to it by this point.

"So should I believe the rest of what I've been hearing?" she asked with a teasing smile, "There're quite a lot of rumors flying around..."

"That depends on what you've been hearing, I suppose."

"Is it true you can crush someone's lungs without even touching them?"

Naruto blinked.

"Uh no. Have people really been saying that about me?"

As the adult talked the two toddlers continued to size each other up—now at equal heights. There was no animosity palpable between then, but each child remained guarded. Hitomi had never seen anyone with eyes like this boy; they looked like the bull's-eyes that the adults threw those darts at in Juju-baachan's inn. Daddy would never let her play that game.

Her dad laughed, jarring her little body as he did so, and suddenly she didn't want her daddy to pay so much attention to other people.

"Daddy, I wanna go home," she pouted, her voice soft in her whining. Naruto stopped laughing from the ridiculous rumors Kurenai was telling him about and glanced at his daughter.

"You were so excited to get food before. What's wrong hun?" Hitomi snuck a look at the little boy and quickly ducked away. Naruto didn't understand her behavior.

"I've got to get these in the fridge anyway," Kurenai stated, raising her own basket of groceries. "It was nice seeing you again, Naruto. We'll have to set up a play date for these two."

"Well my apartment is right next to the park."

"Really? Well that's convenient. We'll probably see you there sometime then. Till then," Kurenai departed, unable to wave due to her burdened arms.

"Later," Naruto said in turn. If he hadn't gotten so used to being treated as an equal by the adults of Bassai, he may have wondered at how casually he was able to talk to Kurenai—someone who he used to look up to as an authoritative figure. Now she seemed just like any other person to him.

"What do you think of Keiji?" he asked his daughter who, surprisingly, hadn't put up much of a fight when he plucked the cereal from her hands.

Hitomi just turned her face the other way and buried her nose into his shoulder. She had never reacted negatively to anyone before and, while he wouldn't call her stoicism regarding Keiji negative, it certainly wasn't the gusto she usually replied with when it came to potential, new friends.

Naruto sighed. He didn't know what had gotten into Hitomi as of late; whether this was just a new phase he was going to have to discover through time, or if being in Konoha had something to do with it. She wasn't the usual giggly child she always was, she was quieter, surlier.

Shopping for food went by much faster without Hitomi running up and down the streets throwing things at him. In less than fifteen minutes he was juggling two full paper bags of groceries in one and the silent Hitomi curled up against his other side. As he made his way back to the apartment he received more acknowledgement than he was used to with the older crowd nodding their heads to him and the younger ones staring openly. It was starting to annoy him. Perhaps he had become too accustomed to a life of solitude.

Hitomi made a small groan and scrunched her eyes shut. Naruto glanced down at her in concern.

"What's wrong, babe? Do you feel sick?"

"I wanna go home," she said again and Naruto had an ill feeling that it _was_ Konoha that was making her act this way.

"How would you like to live in Konoha?" he asked tentatively, slowly making his way up the double stair case, careful not to have any foodstuffs fall from the over packed bags. "What if this became our home? Would you like that?"

Hitomi shook her head vigorously.

"I want Fuzz-wah and Juju-baachan," she insisted, "I miss Lee-lee."

Naruto frowned to himself. He had known before that it wouldn't be easy trying to move back to Konoha, but up until now he had tried not to give it too much thought. He wanted Hitomi to be happy and she had too many attachments back in Bassai. If he were honest with himself, he did as well.

He arrived at the red painted door that could now be called his own and unlocked it, kicking the door open with his foot as his child and grocery laden arms were occupied.

"We'll only be staying here for a little while longer and then we'll go back home to see Juhi-baachan, okay?" he promised as he lowered the groceries to the table top of their kitchenette.

She nodded and rubbed at her eyes, a sign that she was ready for a nap. Without saying another word, Naruto whisked her off to her room. It was sparsely furnished and grey, much like the rest of the apartment, and he noted that if they were going to have this as a second home he would have to make it more inviting.

He settled her down on a bed that was too big for her and for once she didn't put up much of a fight. With a parting kiss on her forehead he left the room, shutting the door quietly behind him. Naruto felt bad that Hitomi was so upset. He couldn't blame the girl for being uncomfortable in a large, foreign village. Even he couldn't help but felt out of place in his own birth town. And it wasn't Konoha that had changed, it was him.

There was one thing he knew would help with that discomfort.

Crossing his fingers, he summoned a shadow clone and applied the blood seal with swift ease. He had recovered enough; sending one specialized clone wasn't going to kill him.

"Get Stick," he ordered, "Do not return or dispel without him."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"About damn time you got here," Kiba complained as he spotted Naruto approaching the large table he had reserved, "I thought Chouji was going to eat everything before we even got started."

"Watch your mouth." Naruto intoned while shifting his daughter on his hip. A hearty dinner and a good night's sleep had done wonders for Hitomi's mood. It didn't hurt that she got to spend that morning in the park with her father; "Attack daddy with dirt clods" was her favorite game, after all. She especially loved it when there were rocks hidden inside.

"You brought her!" Ino gushed loudly. The girls were all lined up along one side of the table with Kiba, Chouji, Shikamaru, Shino and Neji on the other. "Bring her over here!"

Naruto complied with the blonde's demand, weary enough not to deny a group of women what they wanted, and sat at empty spot next to Hinata. The young woman immediately looked down at her hands, red in the face. Naruto had barely gotten settled before Hitomi was pulled over the busty girl's lap and into Ino's eager arms.

"So, is this the baby?" Tenten asked from the far side of Ino, reaching over and petting the girl's soft hair along with the other hands. Hitomi sent her father a bewildered look at being manhandled and Naruto couldn't blame her. Why did everyone have to treat her like a cat?

"She's hardly a baby, she's three years old now...aren't you big girl?"

Hitomi managed a smile amidst all the hands patting her at Naruto's acknowledgement. Naruto didn't even notice that his voice had dropped into baby tones when he spoke to his daughter and so he missed the weird looks cast upon him by Kiba and Neji.

Tenten gave Naruto an appraising stare, "Three already? Naruto, you sly dog..."

Naruto cocked his head to the side, "Huh?"

Ino giggled at whatever inside joke the weapon's mistress was referring to and Sakura elbowed Tenten in the side, her cheeks coloring much like her hair—though it was nothing compared to Hinata's red face. At the moment, the Hyuuga's mind was solely focused on how her thigh was touching Naruto's.

"Just ignore them," Shikamaru muttered, scowling at the girls who were overcome by some odd giggling fit. It was useless reasoning with them like this—they behaved the same way around Keiji. He figured it must have something to do with their biological clock telling them it was time to be mommies...or something to that effect. He couldn't be troubled by it either way.

"You brought your daughter?" Chouji asked. It didn't even occur to him that Naruto would bring along the three year old. Naruto shrugged.

"Well I wasn't going to leave her at the apartment. Actually, I don't plan on leaving her alone anywhere just yet. Konoha is still too new for her; I don't think she's very comfortable here."

Sakura's ears perked up at Naruto mentioning his apartment.

"Oh, you're moving back to Konoha?" she asked brightly. It certainly sounded like progress on the front of him permanently returning to his rightful home.

"No," Naruto said flatly and his old teammate's face fell, "I have my house in Bassai, remember? And Hitomi goes to school there. I don't want to separate her from her friends. However, it's only an hour away, so I figured I could spend just as much time here as well."

The rest of the group stared in silence. Ino was the one who finally piped up the question everyone was thinking.

"You own a house?" She asked with no uncertain amount of disbelief.

Possessing a house was a rare feat within the ninja population. Sure, the major clans had their own districts and clan-homes, but that was because they claimed those lands during their inceptions. For a non-clan ninja to have a home was almost unheard of. A home required major upkeep, something that an active duty ninja would never be able to provide between the many missions they would perform. This was the reason the majority of Konoha's ninja forces rented apartments, and only drove home the amount that Naruto had obviously changed.

"Yep!" Naruto chirped and offered no further explanation.

The smell of cooked meat alerted everyone to the first batch being ready for consumption. Chopsticks immediately began to grapple over the grill and plates were slowly filled.

"Sounds troublesome," Shikamaru commented on the situation Naruto faced and lifted a fresh cigarette to his lips out of habit. The butt froze inches from his lips as Naruto's hard stare held him in place. Grumbling, he reluctantly knocked the stick back in its box and stuffed the pack back in his pocket.

Satisfied, Naruto began cutting a portion of the sauced meat into little pieces suitable for Hitomi's mouth.

"So tell me how you guys are doing? Anyone else make it to jounin?" he asked conversationally. To be honest, he had been getting sick of constantly talking about himself so much and wouldn't mind hearing someone else's story.

"Everyone from our graduating class has made it to jounin," Shino answered softly. "And Lee is now in ANBU."

Naruto's head shot up. He hardly registered Hitomi crawling into his lap after finally escaping the clutches of the older females.

"Lee's in ANBU?" he repeated for clarification, "Rock Lee?"

"Yeah, pretty crazy huh?" Chouji said as he picked a few more pieces of beef from the grill, "he's on a mission right now. In fact, I don't think he even knows you're back yet."

"Tenten is applying sometime this year, aren't you?" Sakura spoke up while looking at the older woman.

"Yeah, I've been thinking about it," Tenten shrugged. "But Lee says that it's not all that it's cracked up to be. A lot of dirty work, ya know? Anyway, since neither of us come from prominent clans, we can afford that kind of work."

"Me, Chouji, Shikamaru and Shino have been busy with missions and training to take over as heads of our clans," Kiba added.

"Hey!" Ino scowled at him, "So have me and Hinata!"

"Hinata's obvious, and I didn't think your clan was prominent enough to mention—"

"You-you jerk!"

Naruto smiled as the two began to hurl words back and forth over meaningless things and could recall a time when he was a part of this group. It was only a few years ago when it was him who was yelling across tables and going out of his way to tease his friends.

He slowly took a bite of his food while watching as Hitomi contentedly chomped on the tiny bits of meat set aside for her. All things considered, she was worth the missed years of socializing.

Tenten suddenly began snickering, "Oh yeah...Neji has a gennin team."

Naruto turned an open stare on Neji—whose complexion was too pale to hide the light flush swathing his cheekbones.

"You?" he blinked, "Seriously?"

"I know!" the female brunette continued to crow, "What was Tsunade-sama thinking? Letting someone like him mold young minds..."

She childishly stuck her tongue out as she said this.

"I resent that," Neji said stiffly to his long-time friend. "My students happen to be flourishing under my tutelage."

His choice of words only served to fuel the girl's snickering even further.

"So, are you gunna be doing missions with us again?" Kiba asked watching a bit bemusedly as Naruto delicately wiped the mess of barbeque sauce from Hitomi's hands and face with a napkin. He would have made a comment about going soft and being unmanly...if the girls weren't giving the blonde such adoring looks.

To the group's surprise Naruto shook his head in the negative.

"Baa-chan's still running some tests to make sure I _can_ be doing missions," he explained, "Something about me having too much chakra...eh, I wasn't really listening."

That was a lie, but he didn't feel like getting into the mechanics of how he completely overshot that particular segment of his training.

Ino and Sakura exchanged looks.

"_Too much?_" Ino repeated, "Holy shit! Is that even possible?"

Naruto shrugged and smiled. "That's what she said."

"What?"

"Shizune. That's what Shizune said...about what Tsunade said."

While her father was suddenly bombarded by questions pertaining to his training, Hitomi took the opportunity to slide under the table.

She looked at the array of feet presented. She knew which ones belonged to the ladies...and she didn't want to go over there, they were so weird. She looked at the other side; the feet over there were overall larger and dirtier, and all in the same blue-strapped sandals. These sandals weren't like her daddy's—they were thicker and tighter, wrapping around most of the foot and around the ankle. Who would want these? They looked like they were difficult to take off.

She crawled closer to the opposite side and looked at the pants presented. There were some brown pants and some tough, green pants and—ohh!

Hitomi reached out a hand and gingerly touched the feather-soft silk of the short, dark hakama. It was light and flowy...like princess pants!

It smelled nice too.

These were the pants that belonged to the lap that Hitomi decided to crawl onto. Seconds later she was looking up into Hyuuga Neji's horrified face.

"You're pwetty," she stated bluntly, liking his clear, pearl eyes and long hair. Neji had to hold back a pout. He was all that was man.

"Hitomi," Naruto said with a disapproving undertone. He gave his child a warning look while trying to appear apologetic towards Neji. Hitomi just settled herself more comfortably on the poor Jounin's legs, snuggling back into the soft, white Gi. Kiba and Chouji, who were on either side of the man, sniggered. And ever so slightly leaned away.

"Aw, Neji, she likes you!" Tenten cooed. Hinata giggled behind her hand, finding her cousin's misfortune most amusing. Neji returned her laugh with a sour look.

"Oi, Hinata, you can tell if Naruto has too much chakra, can't you?" Kiba suddenly asked, "Why don't you just tell that old goat that Naruto good to go—ow! What the hell Sakura!"

"Don't call Tsunade-sama names!" she snapped.

"Well I'm just saying...! I mean, it's not fair if Naruto has to sit around while the rest of us go off on missions, right buddy?"

Naruto had to refrain from disagreeing. The thought of going on super dangerous missions had lost its appeal quite some time ago. He had Hitomi to take care of now; he didn't want to get himself killed while playing the hero.

"Uh...I guess—"

He broke off at the loud gasp from beside him. Hinata had subtly activated her byakugan (really, the girl didn't need much prompting) and was dragging her rounded eyes up and down Naruto's seated form, her face pale in shock.

"Naruto-kun!" she squeaked, "Your chakra coils—they're huge!"

Her astonishment was great enough to raise her voice up a notch or two from what everyone was used to hearing, which only served to emphasize how big the coils must have been. Neji activated his own byakugan, his jaw dropping almost immediately. Hitomi stuck a piece of meat in his mouth.

"Hinata!" Naruto gasped, playfully crossing his arms over his chest in a protective manner, "You pervert..."

The bulging veins immediately retreated back into her smooth skin—skin that had turned the color of seasoned merlot.

"W-wha—n-no! Th-th-that—"she was so horrified that he thought she was a pervert that she could hardly push out a sentence.

"Naruto!" Kiba yelled. The idiot blonde still didn't understand how much weight his opinion held with his poor teammate, did he?

"Oh come on, she just jumped at the chance to look through my clothes," Naruto defended himself at Sakura's disapproving look. Shikamaru rolled his eyes and Chouji chuckled heartily.

"What's a purvurt?" Hitomi asked innocently from Neji's lap.

Naruto pointed to Hinata's motionless body.

"Nar—u—to!" Kiba growled out each syllable as he watched the embarrassment become too much for his sensitive teammate. Hinata slumped back against the wall behind her.

"Nice to see he hasn't lost his sense of humor," Ino muttered as she adjusted Hinata's body to rest against her own. She didn't bother to conceal her grin.

"Uzumaki Naruto?"

The smile Naruto had been sporting slipped a little at the sight of an ANBU standing at the table side.

"Uh, yeah?"

"The Hokage would like to speak with you."

"Oh...alright," the ANBU disappeared just as suddenly as he came and Naruto stood from his seat, "Well, it's been fun guys. Tell Hinata I was just joking—"

He paused to look at the unconscious girl and shook his head. She was just so _weird!_

"I'll go with you!" Sakura piped up and before Naruto could respond she had climbed over the laps of Tenten, Ino and Hinata. Ino sent her a look of dubiety as she passed by.

"Er...you don't have to—" Naruto finally managed to fish Hitomi out of Neji's lap; it had taken several tries to pry her fingers from his Gi.

"I want to," she insisted, pushing him along towards the exit "Bye guys!"

Those still seated watched the group of three leave. Neji couldn't help but feel relief at their departure. Chouji took advantage of Ino's distraction of trying to shake Hinata awake and discreetly slid Naruto's unfinished plate towards himself.

"That was weird," the large boy mused, "I can't remember a time when Naruto didn't finish his plate. Oh well, more for me!"

Ino looked up to see her teammate chowing down on the remains of barbeque and opened her mouth to berate him. She paused, realizing the futileness of it all, and instead turned to Tenten with a giddy expression.

"Did you see Naruto feeding her those little pieces of meat?" She giggled.

"And when she got barbeque sauce all over her little nose and he wiped it off!" Tenten blathered back, "It was _so_ cute!"

"You've gotta be kidding me," Shikamaru moaned, whipping out his pack of cigarettes and lighting up. There were no children or overprotective fathers to keep him from doing so this time.

"What do you think that was about?" Shino asked, speaking up for perhaps the second time that afternoon, "What would the Hokage want with Naruto?"

"Mmm, probably going to tell him if he can go on missions or not if Tsunade-sama has finished with whatever testing they were doing," Neji replied. He was quite interested in finding out how powerful Naruto had become; relying on rumors and gossip for information was beneath him. Perhaps a spar was in order.

Kiba rested his elbows on the table and leaned forward, "Better yet, why did Sakura leave? What was up with that?"

"Maybe she wanted to talk to the Hokage as well?" Chouji suggested. Tenten sent the boys a piteous look when she realized that they were serious.

"Man, you guys are oblivious."

A slip of paper was slid onto the tabletop from a passing by waiter.

"...CRAP! Those Jackasses didn't pay their share!"

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

A lone figure stood amongst the wide, charred area that was once a forest. Naruto—or rather, his clone—tried to take everything in, from the countless tree stumps to the smoggy, grey skies. Everything was dead. Everything was black. Everything.

"Did I really do this?"

Suddenly his victory felt very hollow.

Normally he could hear the groans and creeks of tree branches that were carried in the very wind that moved them. The soothing shuffles of animals scurrying around in the treetops and forest floors were absent, as were fresh scents of decomposing fallen leaves and sap-smeared bark.

The bodies of Pein that he had fought were already dead; it was as if he were destroying highly dangerous machines with the way they were operated. But he had ended up taking life nonetheless—innocent life that had been there long before mankind.

He took a step further into the damage area, his foot crunching through charred bark. The feeling made him wince; just his presence alone was disrespectful. He was like a criminal who had returned to the scene of the crime.

"Alright," he breathed to himself, "Just find Stick and then go home. The forest will regrow..."

The words felt empty on his tongue so he gave up trying to justify himself and closed his eyes, stretching his senses. Stick would have had an aura of its own, similar to Naruto's. He just had to concentrate of locating a familiar warmth amongst all the death. It shouldn't be too hard.

But it wasn't Stick that he sensed...it was the power of a demon.

And it was fast approaching.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto greeted as he and Sakura crossed the threshold into the Hokage's office.

"Naruto, I told you, I'm not your sensei anymore. There's no need to call me that," the man behind the desk insisted. Kakashi still felt out of place while bearing the robes of a Kage and managing corps of ninja. It wasn't exactly the kind of job he could turn up late for all the time.

"I could take to calling you Jii-chan now. You'd fit the bill."

Kakashi gave the blonde man a flat look. It was so weird to see the young man carrying around a child, and even weirder knowing that that child was his.

Tsunade's laugh brought their attention to the side of the room where she was just getting up from the small couch, "How the times have changed, eh Kakashi?"

Naruto regarded the woman for a moment before adding, "So I heard you're an elder—"

"S-shut up!"

Sakura muffled a snigger and Tsunade had to wonder what happened to the delightful apprentice who would throw Naruto into a choke hold anytime he sassed her. Then again, it didn't seem likely that anyone would have the gall to try and subdue Naruto these days. Even without the jarring reputation he was building, there was just something about the young man that just screamed _"powerful"_...and that was saying something for someone who dressed in such plain clothes and looked as if he hadn't shaved in a week.

"So what have you called me here for?" Naruto prompted while lowering a squirming three year old to the ground. She shot off as soon as her feet touched carpet and began exploring the large room.

Kakashi cleared his throat. "Well, first and foremost, Tsunade-sama wanted to talk to you about your chakra dilemma."

Naruto frowned, "Yeah? What's the verdict?"

Tsunade lowered herself to sit on the corner of Kakashi's desk before answering.

"Shizune and I ran some tests on the chakra sample and we've found that your chakra is insanely resilient."

"Resilient," Sakura murmured, never having heard that word used to describe chakra before, "How so?"

"Well, after hearing about Naruto's youki, we tried to add various substances to its volatility—other chakras, pathogens, poisons—and, well Naruto, your chakra acts much like a phagocyte would. It literally _consumes_ foreign entities. I can see how it over powered the Kyuubi's. I'm fairly positive you aren't in danger of having your chakra poisoned..."

She trailed off, not knowing how to put into words what she wanted to say.

"But will I be able to continue to train?" Naruto asked impatiently.

Tsunade sighed, looking as if she wasn't totally willing to say the words that she was about to speak.

"I can't tell you _not_ to. But I would avoid making any conscious effort to increase your chakra capacity. It's bad enough you have a steady stream of the Kyuubi's being added to your own, no matter how slow it is. You really, _really_ don't need any more. I can't stress this enough."

Naruto nodded, willing to accept those terms, "To be honest, maximizing my chakra stores wasn't my priority. I was trying to perfect my chakra control since I knew I already had the power to back up most ninjutsu. I guess, in the process I accidently worked my chakra too hard...but it was a good thing I did! The Kyuubi has been scheming all sorts of things to find a way to escape, one of which was for me to use his chakra enough times to break down the seal."

"But now you have enough so that you don't need to rely on the Kyuubi?" Kakashi asked for reassurance.

Naruto comforted him that he wouldn't rely on the Kyuubi ever again and Tsunade added, "He has enough to overpower the Kyuubi it would seem. He just needs to be careful. Naruto...your chakra is almost like an entity of its own. Your immense power may be your downfall if you don't watch yourself. I've never heard of a case like this before so I really have no idea what to expect."

"Don't worry baa-chan. I'll be careful," and he gave her a thumbs up much like he used to do as a child.

Sakura remained silent as she listened to the three most powerful beings in their village discuss Naruto's chakra magnitude. She would have never believed she would one day be hearing about how Naruto was possibly one of the most powerful ninja of their time if she hadn't seen his growth firsthand. But of course such power wasn't given for free. Anytime the Kyuubi or the seal on Naruto's stomach were mentioned she felt sick. Even today, years after she first discovered the truth behind the Kyuubi's defeat, she still couldn't fathom what Naruto had to put up with.

"So...does that mean I can go back to missions?" Naruto asked tentatively.

"Yes, you may," Tsuande sighed, "Just try to avoid expanding your chakra supply if you can."

"Well, maybe we can have Moegi-chan try and reinforce the seal to slow down the leakage," Naruto suggested. He certainly wouldn't mind the extra comfort and he knew Moegi would love to see the seal again.

"She's just been sent on a mission this morning, but I'll call on her when she returns," Kakashi informed him, "If we're all settled with that issue, I believe the question now is—are you going to complete your sage training?"

"I—," Naruto paused. He was unsure, "I don't know.

Sakura couldn't believe what she was hearing. Naruto...turning down training? _Again?_ She had been there three years ago when he first turned it down, but now she knew it was because of Hitomi. Why wouldn't he accept the opportunity _now_?

Apparently Tsunade and Kakashi were having similar feelings.

"Naruto, this is a great chance to continue Jiraiya's legacy. This training is so rare and he wanted you to become a sage as well..." Tsunade said softly. Naruto bit his lip, shamefaced.

"I know! I know! I—I want to, believe me. I also know that it will benefit Konoha if I do...I've already got the basics down and I think I've done as much as I can manage outside of Mount Myouboku. Using what I know now was a huge blow to Akatsuki but...but I can't take Hitomi with me. I mean, Fukasaku explained that Gamakichi would have to summon me, and she's too young to sign the contract. I'm not sure I even want her being a ninja."

"Naruto...look at her," Sakura sighed.

He turned just in time to see the toddler throw what looked like the vagrant cork of a sake bottle at a potted plant, just missing her target and leaving a sizable dent in the wall where she hit.

"Hitomi! Don't throw things!" he snapped and the little girl looked properly cowed...until her father turned away and then the imp was back at it again.

"Ok," Naruto admitted, "She'll probably be a ninja, but still. It's too soon after fighting Pein. He's pissed, I know he is. What if he comes back for revenge? That guy seemed completely unhinged by the end of the battle...I don't think even Madara will be able to keep him in check. If I'm not here for Hitomi...I—I just can't go through that again."

"Naruto," Tsunade said with the same, quiet voice she used before, "I know it's hard, but you can't keep living in fear like this."

Tsunade had seen Naruto after Kensha was killed, she had seen him break down and she had seen how badly it left him scarred.

"I not scared," he denied immediately. But when he looked at his daughter again, the thought of leaving her only brought on phantom sensation of receiving the memories of that shadow clone...the one who he left with Kensha...there was no way he would ever survive another tragedy like that again.

Sakura had only heard stories—from both Tsunade and Ino. Watching him now, with his hands clenching to stop the trembling and the way he fought to control the shudders in his breath, she felt like she could understand him a little more.

"We would never let anything happen to her," she insisted just as gently as her mentor, "I would protect her with my life, as would any other ninja in this village."

Naruto looked between the two women with doubt. Didn't they understand what they were asking from him? This was his _daughter_.

"I still...I need to think about this, okay?"

"We'll contact Fukasaku," Kakashi said with finality, "We'll work something out, alright?"

Reluctantly, Naruto nodded, the affirmation cutting short as his senses were triggered. Three people were approaching the Hokage's office, but Naruto found himself more concerned about the other auras materializing around the building.

"Sakura, would you mind taking Hitomi to the park? Our playtime got a little cut short this morning," Naruto asked abruptly. He was already scooping Hitomi off the ground with hurried movements.

Sakura took the little girl that was offered to her with hesitance, not completely understanding the sudden request. She knew someone was coming but...why the sudden rush? Hitomi herself didn't look all too thrilled about being passed around by her father.

"Uh...sure, but—"

"I'll give you the rest of the day off from the hospital," Tsunade addressed her, catching on to where Naruto was going, "It will be good for Hitomi-chan to bond with her daddy's teammate, isn't that right Hitomi-chan?"

Hitomi didn't smile back. In fact, she was looking at the pink-haired lady with a frown. She may have been three but she knew something was up by the way the pretty colors around everyone darkened. She felt her father's hand on her head.

"Will you go with Sakura-chan, baby? I'll come find you as soon as I can, I promise."

Hitomi made a disgruntled noise but nodded nonetheless; keeping up the unusual close-mouthed strategy she had been playing as of late. Naruto was just thankful that she was being so agreeable for once.

The reason for the sudden send off became clear when Sakura opened one of the double doors to leave and nearly walked into a herd of elderly people.

"Oh! Excuse me," Sakura said while throwing up a polite smile like a pro and gliding past Homura, Danzo and Koharu.

Without giving the young medical prodigy a second glance, Danzo turned his eyes on Naruto sporting a tight smile.

"Ah, Naruto, we're so glad we caught you."

"Yes, I'm sure you had no idea that I was here. What a lucky coincidence," Naruto commented amicably. Kakashi sent him a warning look at what he interpreted as barely repressed sarcasm. Homura and Koharu, on the other hand, paid it no mind; there had never been any animosity between them and the Jinchuuriki, just a stiff understanding of what the facts were regarding his worth to the village. They expected emotional detachment from him at the most.

"Was that your daughter?" Homura asked, glancing back at the door that Sakura and Hitomi just exited out of. Naruto nodded.

"She is adorable," Koharu commented, thinking of her own grandchildren who were now too big to be carried around like that anymore.

The blonde laughed with earnest, "Don't tell her that, she has a big enough head as it is."

"We didn't come here to talk of children," the cripple reminded his two associates.

Naruto's face took on a frosty signature as his eyes fixated back on Danzo. He had never held a personal grudge against the Third's council. When he was little he knew Homura and Koharu as his Jii-chan's his stuffy, old teammates. When he got older he knew that they were every bit as stuffy, and while not the most compassionate people, they still had the village's best interests at heart. It was with that knowledge that he could tolerate their insistence at viewing him as Konoha's ultimate weapon. If he were to be honest with himself, that _is_ an accurate definition of his purpose.

But Danzo...

Naruto's years running the spy network, keeping up tabs on as many possible threats to his village as he could, had left him with the knowledge of how far Danzo's need to "help" Konoha would go. Naruto knew that Danzo was another man who thought he was acting in the village's best interest—but his methods left much to be desired. Naruto knew of Root, he knew that the agents who worked for Root weren't necessarily bad people and that they honestly thought that what they were doing was benefitting Konoha. He knew that they were trained ninja who not loyal to the Hokage.

He also knew Danzo would go as far as to sacrifice the Hokage if it meant pulling Konoha ahead in the ninja world, if only to turn around and take up the position himself.

Kakashi straightened graciously and greeted the three new arrivals.

"What can we do for you, honorable council?"

"We simply came to discuss the next move involving Naruto-chan here," Koharu explained, relishing in the annoyed twitch of Naruto's eyebrow at the suffix, "And to personally thank him for saving our village, of course."

"Well...it may have been a while since I last lived here, but I like to think that it's my village too," Naruto replied to the gratitude, but he had a light smile playing on his lips as he said so.

"Onto the matters at hand," Homura injected, "We believe that there is a fifty-fifty chance of repercussion due to the outcome of your battle. Either you have dealt the Akatsuki a harsh enough blow that they will be forced into minimal activity for a while or, on the other hand, they'll be seeking for immediate vengeance."

"That was my concern," Naruto agreed, giving Tsunade and Kakashi a pointed look, "Pain survived and he was pretty pissed as far as I could tell. I'm afraid he may be driven on revenge."

"If that's what you believe then we think it would be best for you to complete the sage training while the threat is high," Danzo stated, "That was the other matter we wished to discuss with you. You were offered the chance to continue Jiraiya's legacy and declined. We've accepted your reasons for doing so, but now would be the opportune moment to take advantage of it once again."

Naruto sighed, "Unfortunately, we've already gone over this before you arrived. I'm not willing to leave my daughter behind. I know she's older now and I'm more powerful...but me being powerful won't be any good if I'm not around to protect her."

"Naruto-kun, your duty is to the village as one of our ninja. You were given a lot of leeway while on your so called "mission" and it proved to be beneficial, but now is the time to put Konoha first once more. The Akatsuki will come—whether it is tomorrow or in ten years—they will come, and when they do we need you to be as powerful as you can be," Homura explained, "Please, go to Mount Myouboku and finish the Sage training. You'll be safe there; the Akatsuki won't have any chance of capturing you."

That struck a chord in the blonde.

"Is that what you want? You want me to put the safety of my daughter at stake for my own life?"

Koharu could understand where the young man was coming from—and a part of her sympathized with him—but she knew that people of their statue couldn't afford to be inhibited by attachments; that they had to take the whole picture into account and make choices for the greater good.

"It is in our experience that—"

"When was the last time you went on a mission?" Naruto interrupted suddenly.

"I beg your pardon?" Koharu asked.

"Or even made decisions that directly affected lives that were _your_ responsibility? It's been a while hasn't it?"

Homura traded a look with his teammate and frowned at the impertinent blonde.

"Just what are you trying to say?"

Naruto shrugged and clicked his tongue, "I just think that your "experience" is getting a little outdated, that's all."

A strangled cough-like noise erupted from Tsunade's throat, earning her two identical glares from the wizened council. She quickly turned away from them, pretending to look out the window as she schooled her face into a more neutral expression.

"Naruto," Kakashi said warningly, "Utatane-sama and Mitokado-sama have always given their best advice to the executive portion of our government. Their counsel is quite valuable."

"'Always' is not the adverb I would use," Naruto muttered.

"Be that as it may—we really must insist that you consider finishing the training," Tsunade added.

Naruto rubbed a hand over his eyes. It was five against one.

"I just...don't know yet. It's still too soon."

Maybe it was being back in Konoha or maybe it was visiting Kensha's grave, but he was starting to associate the discomfort he felt in the village with his last memories of living there. The pain and panic he felt in those few hours before he fled with Hitomi were being stirred by all the reminding stimulants.

Danzo scoffed, "The strength of your emotional attachment to your child is proving to be a liability."

Naruto's hand twitched; his ire rose.

"A...liability?"

"And what about the other daughters of this village?" Koharu asked rhetorically, "Will you not go for their sake?"

"They're not _my_ daughter," Naruto stressed.

"There was a time you would have put the village before your own needs," Tsunade interjected evenly, trying not to stress him out further.

"I know," Naruto said in just as cool a voice. He tried to calm down after realizing that somewhere along the argument his voice had risen, "But back then I only had myself and my promises to look out after. I would go to these lengths to save the bonds of other people—for families—with only the faintest idea of what it was like to have one myself. Now I know..."

"If I had known that having a child would have weakened you so much I would have pushed for harsher restrictions on your movements," Danzo said, disgusted with what he was hearing. None of the other villages had Jinchuuriki who disobeyed their order. He pointedly ignored the fact that none of the other villages had any Jinchuuriki left.

"That child is the reason I was able to defeat Pein in the first place!" Naruto snarled back, his blue eyes flashing angrily—not with the red of the Kyuubi, but with a biting glint that belonged to Naruto's own feral nature. How dare he...how dare he refer to him as if he were some caged animal to be controlled?

Danzo nearly took a step back from the sudden intensity of the Jinchuuriki's response. Nearly.

Kakashi made to get up from his seat, lest Naruto do something irrational like attack the man, but Tsunade held a hand to his shoulder to keep him seated.

Naruto continued, heedless of the others' uneasiness, pinning the amputee with a furious gaze.

"You know...I never liked the way you philosophized about the necessity of killing emotions. Like it would make us stronger...make us better ninja. What complete garbage!"

Danzo's lip curled and Homura and Koharu could both see the man's temper rising.

"Emotions breed irrationality and hate," Danzo stated coldly, "Emotions cause ninja to lose focus of their priorities and make them question authority. A government cannot run with such insolent subordinates—the leeway you were granted as a child clearly has left adverse affects."

Naruto didn't miss a beat, "Authority _needs_ to be questioned, otherwise there's nothing to keep it in check. A society can't develop without controversy—there's no progress! What you want are little soldiers, with no motivation to fight other than their orders."

"You want us to believe that your attachment is going to make your stronger? Your hesitance regarding this issue alone is answer enough for that."

Something about the way Danzo worded it reminded Naruto of Kyuubi's over two years ago. But this was completely different.

...Or so he tried to convince himself.

"I've learned things not even sage training could teach me—even Fukasaku said so."

"Oh, and what would these be?"

_Aura sensing...wind manipulation...changing a diaper..._

"Tch. I'm not telling you. I don't trust you," Naruto said and glanced away, his arms crossing. He was afraid that if he kept looking at the man he would lose even more of his temper than he had already. And with what he was about to do he had to be as level headed as possible.

Danzo's solo, narrow eye squinted even further. He didn't want to be on the Jinchuuriki's bad side; this was Konoha's treasure, after all. But the boy was sending him thinly veiled warnings one after another and he couldn't help but want to know why.

"If what I am gathering is true...you don't trust me because you disapprove of my methods?" he ventured.

"It's more than that. I don't trust you because you're crazy...and old. And chances are I'm going to have to kill you one day to keep you from destroying the structure of Konoha's government."

Tsunade put a hand to her mouth and whispered, "Naruto, no..."

It was only decades of numbing himself to outside stimulants that kept Danzo from reeling back from the simple declaration. There was no malice behind it, no anger fueling the words, just an honest, laughably innocent, truth of tone.

"Did you just threaten me, Jinchuuriki?"

The temperature in the room dropped a few notches. Naruto could feel the auras of the Root ANBU inch closer in case he was to do something to their master.

He wasn't intimidated.

"Who do you think has been managing the outermost cover of Konoha's spy network all this time? I know what goes on outside these walls—as well as _underneath_ them."

Kakashi's eye was narrowed, Tsunade jerked from her relaxed pose against the desk. It was barely noticeable, but Danzo's hand tightened around the head of his cane at the obvious accusation.

"Root was destroyed years ago. Long before you were ever born," the old warmonger bit out.

"Naruto-kun," Homura spoke up softly, trying to nip whatever was brewing before them in the bud, "You can't just accuse him of something that has no tangible evi—"

"—If you say evidence I may have to kill you too," Naruto growled, stunning Homura into his own bout of silence. As annoyed as the Naruto sometimes got with Homura, he had never before threatened him, "I mean, giving Orochimaru the identities of our ANBU? Are you kidding me?!"

"I explained my reasoning and it was found to be a misunderstanding. The Uchiha had to be eliminated before—"

Screw levelheadedness. Naruto exploded.

"Oh for Christ's sake—shut the hell up! Everyone here knows you've been after the Hokage position since...forever—even though you're _clearly_ way past your prime by this point. Spending your time plotting ways to overthrow the government in your underground country club—which still exists, by the way," he added for the benefit of the two alarmed council members, "How else do you explain the "ANBU" that follow you around everywhere? You know—the ones that are listening to us right now? You compromised the security of _our_ ANBU. That is not a misunderstanding, it is a fact. And it's not something that can be forgiven.

"Your biggest mistake was planting Sai on our team—otherwise I wouldn't have had the initiative to dig so deeply into it." Naruto continued on his roll, "I now know that you completely took advantage of the Kyuubi attack; taking in orphans, raising and brainwashing them into your loyal little robots, planting them amongst the ranks, keeping tabs on everything the Hokage does, looking for any opportunity to discredit them, or to make yourself look good. I've had it! I'm not going to put up with this beating-around-the-bush bullshit anymore. It's treason, plain and simple. So just say what you need to say to me so we can arrest you and get this over with."

Kakashi dropped his head into his hands. Danzo's high standing amongst some of the ninja as well as the villagers had made the suspicions of his movements a rather delicate situation. Naruto clearly didn't compute the _'shut up'_ looks he had been sending him throughout his entire rant.

Emotional training or not, no one could deny the stark white that had befallen what was left of Danzo's face.

"Your childish outburst has done nothing more than to prove my point," the war hawk callously stated, "Such a disposition makes you useless to Konoha."

With a flourish of his robes the man limped out of the room, leaving the high tension to linger in his wake.

"That...wasn't wise, Naruto-chan," Koharu finally spoke after a brief moment of silence had fallen over the group.

"Yes, it certainly wasn't the best idea to out him so publicly," Homura agreed with his teammate.

"You should have talked to me first," Kakashi added; the disapproval was evident in his voice.

"Like you would have done anything," Naruto snapped, he was breathing heavily from the rush of emotions that had invaded him, "You only have yourselves to blame for letting it go this far. Really, what did you expect? That eventually he would give up and Root would die out?"

No one argued with him there.

"Even so, this will cause many political complications, not to mention we are now forced to make an arrest," the Hokage stated, a bit unnerved at the aggressive behavior Naruto had been displaying over the last several minutes; it was completely opposite to the usual easygoing temperament he seemed to have adopted in his absence.

"He's already gone," Naruto groused, "As are those Root ANBU he had with him. They've probably been prepared since day one for escape tactics if anything had ever compromised Root."

"Shit," Kakashi swore, "We don't know what kind of repercussion this could have if we don't get it under control now. There could still be Root ANBU within our ranks; they could be a danger to our shinobi. We'll have to start weeding immediately."

"What a damn mess," Tsunade mumbled, not just about having to weed through their ninja corps, but also at Naruto's performance. She certainly knew that Kakashi's hopes of passing the Hokage title onto Naruto in the next five years were shattered. The boy would probably be forced to take lessons in the refinement of politics before even being considered again.

Naruto seemed to know what she was thinking.

"Tsunade—we all knew what he was doing. Konoha's been pussyfooting around the issue for far too long, allowing Danzo to stir up trouble all these years without doing anything about it," Naruto sighed, "I was just diffusing a bigger mess that probably would have blown up in _my_ face in the years to come. It's sad that I even had to do it for you."

Tsunade's face fell at the jab.

"I can agree with that. I should have taken care of it while I was still Hokage and had my suspicions. All the same, you could have done it with a little more class."

Naruto stared at her.

"What idiot told you I had class?"

"Sorry, I assumed you would have picked some up after raising Hitomi."

"What does class have to do with child rearing? It's a pretty messy job."

Tsunade had nothing to say to that, even with Koharu nodding patronizingly at her.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Sakura clutched at her chest out of reflex, trying to quell the sixth near-myocardial infarction brought on from watching Hitomi play on the jungle gym. "Play" wasn't the word she would use to describe what she was seeing. The small girl was swinging within the dome of metal bars like a ring-tailed lemur. So many times Sakura thought the little thing was going to fall on her head, only to see the misleadingly short arms successfully pull their body's weight from a drop.

"Be careful, Hitomi-chan," Sakura called out for the umpteenth time. Hitomi spared her a look, but was otherwise unconcerned with the woman who followed her father around nagging him about moving to this overcrowded village. She continued with her exploration of the jungle gym.

Sighing and sitting a back on a park bench, Sakura began to ponder on the happenings in the Hokage's office. She knew the council members were probably trying to talk Naruto into completing his training; she could only hope they would succeed. Not for the sake of the village, but also to give her a chance to prove herself to Naruto. She wished that he would trust her enough to keep his daughter safe, if only for the time it took him to complete his sage training. He already demonstrated that he didn't trust her by not telling her about Hitomi from the start...she had to find away to prove to him that she was trustworthy!

The long strands of her hair were carried by the wind and brushed across her nose, causing her to tuck the strands behind her ear. Naruto...he was so distant.

She had been so excited when he first returned. She thought of convincing him to go out to ramen with her and have them train together; she wanted patch up their friendship, to build their teamwork to what it once was. But he kept pulling away; he seemed so out of reach now.

Whenever she used to picture Naruto returning she imagined a handful of time with them hanging out with the Hitomi along, but otherwise figured Naruto would come out alone now and then, to hang out and drink with their group, to act like the rest of them. Now, after seeing him interact with his daughter, she didn't know what she could have expected. He spent _all_ his time with his daughter. He always wanted to keep an eye on her. He had a subtle paranoia about him that wasn't there before.

Truth be told, he just wasn't the same person, and it was a little heartbreaking for her to accept it.

She was drawn out of her thoughts by a small tugging on her skirt.

Hitomi had somehow snuck up on her and was insistently pulling on her clothes for attention.

"What's wrong sweetie?" she asked.

"I'm hungwy."

Sakura sweat dropped. Hadn't they just eaten? Naruto was sure to go to the park right after he finished up with the Hokage and the council, as that was where he told them to go. Then again, she didn't know how long he would take. Perhaps they could get in a quick snack and be back before he arrived.

"How about we go get some ramen?" she suggested. Surely, if he didn't find them at the park, Naruto would head straight to Ichiraku's.

Hitomi cocked her head to the side.

"Rawman?"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Naruto stared at the man in front of him. He was, thick, tall, dark skinned, and sporting fair cornrows. He bore a Kumo hitai-ite.

He was grinning like a maniac at him.

"Hey, hey, little man! I thought I'd find you here. I gotta say...this is some sick damage you've torn up here—Akatsuki ain't gunna be screwing with you again." This was the stranger's odd greeting. With the initial shock of his appearance receding, Naruto was able to more accurately assess the demonic aura emitting from the guy. All in all, it was a rather easy task.

"You're—!"

"Yep!" the man said and he gave Naruto a two-fingered salute, "Name's Kirabi, but you can just call me Killer Bee. Jinchuuriki of the Hachibi. And you must be the Kyuubi one. Never thought I'd get to meet the only Jink who trumps eight."

"Uh...Naruto," the clone introduced himself, trying to figure out what the hell was just said to him. It was almost surreal meeting another Jinchuuriki—one who actually had a personality. Even more so when he realized that they were the last two.

"Where have you been all this time?" Naruto continued talking as he began walking around in search of Stick as a hint for Kirabi to follow, "I knew that a number of your tails were captured but I couldn't figure out what happened to you."

"I'm on vacation!" Kirabi exclaimed happily, throwing his arms out wide as if it would suddenly display the Hawaiian shirt he was wearing. Naruto's lips quirked.

"For two years? Don't you think that's a bit much? Why didn't you return back to your village?"

Kirabi snorted, "What, and become their safely guarded weapon again? Bitches wouldn't even let me leave the village gates. Beside's how am I supposed to get my rapping career off the ground if I can't advertise myself?"

Naruto paused briefly in his search to cast the taller man a bemused look. Shrugging, and coming to the conclusion that all Jinchuuriki had to be crazy in some form or another, he continued to scan the perimeters.

"At least Kumo treats their Jinchuuriki as honored weapons rather than cursed ones," Naruto pointed out, "That's gotta count for something."

"Hmm, true. But I don't think my brother wants to see me anytime soon. He lost a number of his favorite jounin trying to "rescue" me. I think he might be holding some sort of grudge."

"But he does know you're alive, right?"

Kirabi scratched the side of his head, "Uhh...I dunno. S'pose I could have sent him a letter or something. Say, what are you looking for anyway?"

"My weapon. I fell unconscious after the battle and was taken back to Konoha without it. I really hope its ok..."

The seals protect it from internal damage enough; external damage should have been taken care of as well.

"Must have been pretty tight to cause this amount of damage," the older Jinchuuriki commented, trying to picture what kind of epic weapon would aid in such destruction.

Naruto laughed, "You have no ide—STICK!"

He sensed it strongly now as he raced toward a pile up of the devastated forest.

Kirabi was about to question what yelling "stick" was all about when he saw for himself as the blond man heaved a blackened looking branch from a cluster of fallen trees. He then proceeded to hug it.

"Oh I found you!" Naruto cried, clutching the stick like a lifeline, "I am so sorry for leaving you like that! You're all dirty now too! I'll clean you right up, don't you worry..."

Kirabi almost fell over.

"Tree-hugger say what now?"

But Naruto was too busy coddling a piece of wood to elaborate.

"**There is no way..." **the Hachibi's voice sounded in his mind while sounding laughably horrified, **"that this guy can destroy the Akatsuki. Absolutely. No. Way."**

Watching Naruto lovingly brush some ash from the badly cracked bark, Kirabi had to disagree. This guy was _exactly_ what would destroy Akatsuki.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

I know some people may think Naruto's lost some maturity...he's nineteen, and while in many respects he's aged due to fatherhood, in many ways he's still a kid and feels no need to try and force formality or politeness—neither of which have nothing to do with child rearing...especially now that Naruto is a forest lurker (heehe)

Really, it irks me when people have him "impressing" the council with formality and politeness and fancy speech—I mean, who the hell is that? Not Naruto, that's for sure. Be true to his roots, yo!1

I starting writing that grocery scene in a grocery store and then I realized...I had only ever seen lots of outside stands in Konoha...good God, they have bazaars! And then I had to re-write it...but it's still cool.

**Strider714** is back and editing again...which this chapter dearly needed because it was TWICE AS LONG AS I ANTICIPATED. I must be on typing roids.

Thank you all so much for reviewing!!! I appreciate your feedback; I really do—especially when you point out where I'm slacking, believe it or not. I like to keep my writing well rounded.

**Next chap**: baths, Akatsuki, and the awesome power of YOUTH


	18. Sand in the Cracks

**Chapter 18**

"Ah! There you are!"

The two patrons of the humble Ichiraku's Ramen Bar turned on their stools to see Naruto shift back a hanging flap.

"Daddy!" Hitomi cheered in glee. She abandoned her bowl of ramen in favor of launching off of her seat, crossing a good five feet in distance, and into Naruto's awaiting arms.

"Hey baby! Did Sakura-chan get you ramen?"

"Yee-aah! It soooo good, daddy!" she squealed in his ear. With her father acceptably in her view once more she demanded that she be brought back to her ramen.

"Is that alright?" Sakura fretted, afraid that she had spoiled the girl's dinner or something, "She said she was hungry..."

Naruto waved off her worry, "It's fine, don't worry about it. She has an appetite that can put Chouji to shame."

He ruffled Hitomi's hair, of who pointedly ignored him as she drank deeply from her bowl of broth.

"Geez, she acts like she never had ramen before," Sakura commented as Hitomi took a breath from her slurping in order to release a small burp before burying her face back in the bowl.

Naruto sat himself down on the stool stationed at Hitomi's other side and pulled her back from drowning in her own soup.

"Well, that's because she hasn't," he commented offhandedly while demonstrating to his daughter how to properly hold her chopsticks when eating ramen.

The noodles Sakura had so carefully twirled from her small pork ramen slipped from of her own pair of chopsticks.

"You mean...she never—but—but its ramen! It's your staple food!"

Naruto laughed, recalling simpler times when he could have gotten by on the convenience food alone for a good week.

"But it's not her's. Honestly, who raises a kid on sodium? Besides, I was around six when I first had ramen. She's only three...look at her, she can hardly hold her chopsticks."

One of Hitomi's chopsticks was now floating around in the brown liquid within her bowl while the other was being used to spear a bit of shrimp.

Sakura had the decency to blush, "Uh, to be honest, I thought _you_ would when I first learned about Hitomi. Sorry..."

"I suppose I can forgive you for that," he shrugged, scratching behind his neck, "Come to think of it, I didn't have the best reputation, did I?"

Sakura opened her mouth to answer when a muffled voice sounded from the curtained backroom behind the bar.

"Is that who I think it is?!"

Soon after, a pretty woman with her hair pulled back in a white bandana emerged. Her face lit up the instant she spotted Naruto.

"Naruto-kun!" she cried, wasting no time in rushing around to the other side of the counter. Naruto stood from his seat in time to catch her flying hug—one very similar to what Hitomi just gave him, but with more weight added.

"Ayame!" Naruto greeted back with equal fervor.

Hitomi's face fell as she witnessed yet another woman steal her father's attention from her.

"Oh, it's so good to see you! Business just hasn't been the same without you around. And—oh my God! Just look at how big you've gotten!" Ayame gushed, pulling away from the man she held hostage and holding him at arms length, "You've got to be at least a foot taller than me!"

"Not even close, but thanks."

Ayame pinched his side at the cheeky response and gestured to Hitomi, who was, at that time, debating if this woman was acceptable or not.

"I can't believe you have a baby, either!" the cook's tone oddly portrayed both reproach and delight.

"Yeah well...accidents happen," he answered sheepishly, because he had no other idea on how to respond to that. He missed the less-than-amused look Sakura sent him.

Ayame herself was tisking, "Well, I'm just glad you've taken responsibility. Heaven knows there're enough irresponsible lowlifes around here. But you should have seen her when I first brought out her ramen! She could barely stay in her seat she was so excited, isn't that right, sweetie?"

At the reminder of being a worthy food provider, Hitomi decided she could forgive the pretty lady and nodded happily.

Naruto scratched the side of his head at the lack of vocal response. Hitomi's subdued behavior was giving everyone the impression that she was a calm, sweet child. What would happen when she got more comfortable here?

"So where's the old man?" he asked, realizing that he couldn't sense any trace of the stand owner.

Ayame's brown eyes lowered and her smile turned melancholy.

"He's been really ill lately, Naruto-kun," she answered softly, "He mostly stays at home these days while I run the stand."

Sakura stared into her bowl, already knowing this as she had been one of the doctors aiding him. Teuchi had cancer and there wasn't much left they could do for him at this stage.

Naruto took a step back in shock as though he were shoved by the very words she spoke. What was happening to all the old people around here?

"Aw, man, I'm sorry Ayame..." He offered and he sincerely meant it. The old man and Ayame were two of the first people to acknowledge him as anything other than the unwilling jailor. Their acceptance (and the ramen they fed him) alone had been enough to keep him from falling down a darker path...like Gaara had. He owed them more than they realized.

Ayame nodded at his condolences, used to such sentiments but appreciating them all the while. Not wanting such a negative atmosphere to stick around her workplace, she latched onto something which struck her in his words, causing her face to brighten and an impish gleam to take over her eyes.

"You know, there was a time when you used to call me Ayame-_neechan_. What's this all about? Are you implying that you see me as a woman now?"

She leaned forward toward his face, arms akimbo and leering suggestively.

"E-eh?"

Yes, Ayame was a woman...and a pretty one at that. Very much so. And that apron only served to accentuate her womanly figure, tugging in at the narrow waist, just above her soft hips...

Sakura felt that ridiculous, venomous rise of possessiveness that hadn't been triggered since she and Ino would fight over Sasuke. Never before had she had any negative feelings directed towards Ayame. Now she had half a mind to throw the rest of her ramen all over the pair. She quickly reigned in the feeling, knowing how juvenile it was.

"Hahaha! You're such a man!" Ayame laughed, backing off once she acquired the desired blush and shoving his chest with one hand. She began her return to her behind-the-counter station, "Now what can I get you? Welcome-back ramen is on the house, as always!"

Calming himself, Naruto tentatively lowered himself back down onto his stool while secretly thankful for the high counter that kept Ayame's body shielded from his disobedient eyes.

"I'll have a large miso, please."

"Mo'!, Mo'!" Hitomi ordered as well once realizing that the woman was making ramen again.

"Tomi!" Naruto said sharply, "That is _not_ how you ask for things."

Hitomi promptly fell back on her seat and curled in on herself, mumbling a soft, "M'sawwy."

"Not to me."

"Sawwy lady," she tried again. Naruto figured it was the best he could get out of her.

"That's alright sweetie," Ayame said cheerfully.

"Wow, Naruto...you've gotten a lot more respectful!" Sakura teased, sticking her tongue out from the corner of her mouth.

Naruto let out a nervous chuckle, hardly registering the steaming bowl being placed before him.

'_Should'a seen me a few minutes ago...'_

Instead of voicing his thoughts he replied, "Uh, if you say so. I guess seeing what being an adult really is all about put things into perspective for me. I don't think I could ever tolerate Hitomi talking to me the way I used to talk to people. I'd probably smack her in the head for that."

He finished the statement with a meaningful look at the little blonde beside him, who gave him a blinding smile in return.

Sakura looked stunned.

"But you don't really hit her...do you?"

"Oh no, I've done it," Naruto assured her casually, "Not that it will do much with that hard head of hers. I've learned she responds better when I threaten to keep her indoors."

He ignored the frown Sakura directed at him, not particularly caring whether she approved or not. It was his kid and she had turned out alright so far. Besides, Sakura had yet to see Hitomi at her worst.

"He must be here somewhere, my youthful student!"

The voice, deep and familiar, had Naruto wearily pulling his face away from his bowl.

"Yosh! Gai-sensei! I see feet!"

"Ah! An excellent observation, Lee. You are truly an observant ninja!"

Naruto glanced at Sakura, "Is that—?"

"Yep," she smiled and drew another noodle into her mouth. Seconds later the flap was thrown aside once more and in stepped a pair of green-suited bodies.

"Naruto-kun!" Naruto was swept into a suffocating hug before he could get a good look at who had grabbed him from behind.

"AH-HA! So the rumors are true! Young Naruto-kun as returned to us!" Gai declared loudly, slamming a strong hand on Naruto's shoulder that could have bowed the metal base of the seat.

Lee detached himself from Naruto and the blonde finally got a good look at the pair. Unsurprisingly, Gai looked the same. As did Lee, if only taller—they had to be around the same height now.

"And he has been protecting our beautiful village!" the older continued, "Sacrificing the comfort of his beloved home in order to take on highly dangerous opponents!"

"Uh...hey Lee...Gai..." Naruto managed to cough out, a little overwhelmed by their assault-like greeting. They must have already cleaned up from their mission if they were back in their infamous training suits.

"Naruto-kun, you are truly an inspiration to us all," Lee claimed dramatically, though it was Gai who appeared touched by his words.

"Well said Lee, well said! Your charisma ripens with every rising of the sun!"

"Oh Gai-sensei! How will I ever compete with such high standards set by my fellow comrade?"

"Lee! You must train until you feel the chilling burn of progress in your very core!"

"Yosh! Perfect advice Gai-sensei! As always!"

"Daddy...I'm scared," Hitomi whimpered. She had willingly ditched her ramen again in order to seek shelter in her father's arms. Sakura snorted rather crudely—leave it to Gai and Lee to terrorize children with minimal effort.

"You guys, chill out," Naruto ordered, trying not to smile himself, "It's good to see you but do you think you can be a little less..."

"Berserk?" Sakura supplied as Naruto fished around for the appropriate word.

"...I was going for 'intense', but that works too."

Naruto had to wonder if their flamboyancy was all an act as the two immediately muted their exuberance and settled into a more relaxed posture.

"Ah, so this must be the little spawn!" Gai said in his deep voice.

Naruto shifted Hitomi a little so that she was facing the two spandex wearing men.

"Yep, this is Hitomi."

"Naruto-kun, I had heard from Neji and Ten-ten of your child," Lee said. The way he was staring at Hitomi would suggest he had never seen a three-year-old before. "She resembles you a great deal."

His mentor was nodding resolutely besides him.

"Yes, I can see that she will follow in her father's footsteps with the youthful power that prowls through their genes!" and as he said this Gai leaned in towards the child with a wide, glinting smile. Clearly he was under the impression that this was encouraging.

Hitomi abruptly buried her face in Naruto's shirt, hoping it would serve as a protector from the gleaming teeth.

"Oh you two," Ayame laughed, "Are you here just to attack Naruto-kun or would you like something to eat?"

All it took was the woman's voice and Lee was suddenly leaning across the bar, grasping one of her hands with both of his.

"Ah, Ayame-chan, the boiling broth of your youth is as aromatic as ever."

Instead of showing any sign of discomfort, Ayame laughed delightedly.

"Oh Lee, you're so silly!"

"Wait...what?" Naruto was sure he had heard wrong.

"Yeah..." Sakura said solemnly from his side, "Lee's been coming here more and more these days..."

"Lee has a thing for Ayame?" he tried to clarify in a low voice, watching as Lee persistently "flirted" with the ramen waitress as Gai encouraged him from the sidelines. For a second, he thought he caught a metaphor involving a 'passion for beef'.

Sakura swallowed the bit of pork in her mouth.

"And she does nothing to discourage it."

"Man..."

Finding it easier to just not think about _that_ particular prospective couple, Naruto returned to his ramen...

...only to see that Hitomi had already moved in on it.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

The next morning found Naruto back in the Hokage's office where both Kakashi and Tsunade were waiting for him. Earlier on, he had been greeted by another ANBU who gave him the message to see the Hokage, along with the forewarning that they would be discussing "the thing that he freaked out about yesterday". It would appear that Kakashi and Tsunade had learned not to throw shit on him like that without the proper time for him to get past a first reaction.

He came into the office far calmer about the impending discussion and with preparations in mind.

"Where's your other half?"

Tsunade asked the question and he could see why. Before now he had yet to go anywhere without Hitomi.

Naruto sighed, "I let Sakura watch her...I mean, this won't take too long, will it?"

"Not long at all if you cooperate, Naruto-chan."

Naruto jumped at the tiny voice sounding from down by his ankles. An old toad donned in a cape hopped up on the edge of the Hokage's desk.

"Fukasaku-sama!"

He honestly had no idea the elder toad was there. Now that he could see the summons's aura he found it ridiculous that he was surprised. He had unconsciously known it was there all along; how was it that Fukasaku-sama made his aura—not undetectable—but...unnoticeable?

"Eh, no, no I'll cooperate," Naruto hastily waved him off after a quick composure, "I've had some time to think this over without any extra...irritants."

"I hope you're pleased with yourself," said Kakashi in accordance to the reminder of yesterday, "I was up half the night tearing apart our forces."

Naruto took in the shady ring under the single, dark eye and knew he wasn't exaggerating.

"How many were arrested?" he asked instead of apologizing.

"Thirty-six so far," Kakashi answered wearily, "in counting. We've already discovered another two within our own ANBU ranks. It's rather alarming at how far deep Danzo had gotten."

"Aren't you glad you're getting it over with now?"

Bothered by his words, Tsunade commented, "I hope you realize we're going to put you through so much etiquette training because of that stunt you pulled before you ever get nominated for Hokage. Calling Danzo out like that could have blown up our faces."

Naruto was unfazed by the threat.

"Well that won't be for quite a while, so no need to rush. Oh! What happened...what about Sai?"

He had yet to encounter the emotionally-defective man and, while Sai always had a penchant for driving Naruto up the wall, he was still a friend.

Tsunade smiled at the worried look his face adapted into. It was comforting to know he still held concern for his friends despite how detached he seemed at times.

"He's in a holding cell right now. It was actually him who gave us the tip off on which root ANBU were where. Unfortunately, Danzo escaped with a good fifteen, but we caught as many as we did thanks to your friend."

"He did?" Naruto found himself pleasantly surprised, "Well, at least we know he's loyal to Konoha. Don't have much of a reason to keep him locked up anymore, right?"

"No. He's loyal to _you_ Naruto and therein lays the problem."

It took a moment for her words to register.

"Huh?"

"That's why we have yet to release him," Kakashi explained, "Should you turn on Konoha, we wouldn't want to have an extra enemy planted in the village."

Naruto's face fell, "Do you hear yourself? If I haven't turned on Konoha by now I'm obviously never going to."

It was a low blow; the reminder that, technically, Konoha didn't even deserve his loyalty. It was quite fortunate that Naruto seemed incapable of holding a grudge.

"That's what we'd like to think. Hypothetically, if you had to choose between Konoha and Bassai, which would you choose," the older man asked with honest curiosity. Naruto's enthusiasm for being back in Konoha after a three-year absence had yet to show itself. _That_ he found a bit concerning.

Naruto blinked at the sudden question and then began thinking on how to answer it. Neither option appealed to him so Naruto gave his most candid response.

"I wouldn't pick one over the other, I suppose. I'd probably choose option three."

Kakashi's eyebrow arched.

"And what would option three be?"

Naruto shrugged, "Whatever appeals to me the most at the time?"

"But I never gave you an option three," Kakashi sighed. "Naruto, I'm trying to teach you that sometimes you have to make unpleasant choices, neither of which could be good. Sometimes you have to go with the lesser of two evils. This goes back to yesterday, you need to make a choice."

'_And we're hoping you choose the one that will benefit Konoha,'_ he added mentally but wouldn't dare say it out loud.

"And I'm trying to tell you—_Hokage-sama_—that I'm aiming for the strength to make my own options. I'm not going to play by other people's rules anymore; if I can, I'll turn it into _my_ game. I'd like to keep the compromises to a minimum, thank you."

Tsunade and Kakashi stared at him, not expecting the answer and yet...neither was surprised, finding it completely in character for him.

"And how's that working for you so far?" Fukasaku asked sounding wholly entertained. He was always hearing that the boy was just like Jiraiya-chan or just like his father, yet young Naruto-chan seemed to be casting a mould of his own. Naruto smiled down at his future teacher.

"Got Danzo out of here without causing too much grief, didn't I?"

Tsunade frowned, "Naruto..."

"Alright, alright," he quickly placated, holding up his hands, "I was wrong to lose my temper and I should think before I speak. How about we get down to business before Hitomi accidently cripples one of your jounin?"

"Why would she...," Tsunade trailed before remembering the stories Naruto told her of the girl's unnatural and demonic quirks, "Never mind, I don't want to know."

"Naruto-chan, if I am to understand correctly, you believe that you can't leave Konoha for an extended period of time because you fear for your daughter's safety?" Fukasaku asked.

"Well...that was the gist of it, yeah. It doesn't help that I royally pissed off the leader of the Akatsuki, so not only am I a personal target, but that could extend to my family as well."

He wasn't going to get into the gritty details of it; of how he was afraid he would break if anything similar to what happened to Kensha occurred again. He was almost positive that there would be no recovery for him; he was in far too deep to ever stop caring for Hitomi as fiercely as he did now and he would have to accept the consequences for that.

"Need I remind you where your priorities should lie...," Tsunade coughed. While she respected Naruto's passion for his beliefs, she did promise Homura and Koharu that she would represent their opinions if they agreed not to be present. As Naruto said before, he didn't need any more irritants.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at her.

"I know where they lie. I'm a father first. Being a ninja is just a job now."

Not the kind of philosophy the Hokage of a village wanted to hear from one of his ninja. It was fortunate for Naruto that he was an extraordinary case.

"You could always take Hitomi with you," Fukasaku suggested, not wanting to stray too far from topic, "But that _would_ require you to physically travel to Mt. Myouboku, and that would be a little over a month."

"We would like him close to here," Kakashi cut in, "He would be too far away if Akatsuki were to attack. We still don't have an appropriate estimate on whether they plan to counter attack or take time to recover."

"I'll find out what I can about that later tonight," Naruto offered, as that was when Stick would be returned to him. He could hardly retain his giddiness when his specialized clone summoned and sent a messenger toad just to relay the information of Stick's successful retrieval.

"How?" Kakashi asked. Tsunade leaned forward with common interest; Jiraiya rarely went into detail on how he received some of the most obscure tip-offs. Perhaps Naruto wouldn't be so closed mouthed about it.

"Don't worry about it," Naruto said dismissively. Had Kakashi fully adjusted to his immense position of power he would have taken offense. As it were, he knew Naruto on a more personal level and, if he were to be honest with himself, was a bit intimidated by the combination of his power and attitude.

"So you don't want to be too far out of reach from Hitomi-chan, but you don't want to be too far out of reach for a potential attack," Fukasaku surmised, getting back on topic as he stroked his short, white beard.

Kakashi bore a thoughtful look on his face. Or the upper right corner that was visible anyway.

"Have you thought about—,"

"Shadow clones," Naruto finished, "isn't that what I always resort to first? No, I don't think it would work. I can't have a shadow clone do the senjutsu training for me, and leaving a shadow clone here with Hitomi would be useless if it was dispelled and I was still at Mt. Myouboku..."

"I suppose being in two places at once isn't going to work out for you this time, is it?" Tsunade asked with dry humor. Naruto was halfway through nodding when he froze.

"Wait...Fukasaku-sama..."

"Hmm?"

"To get there the fast way, Gamakichi or someone has to summon me right?"

"That is correct."

"So it works just like when I summon a toad, but in reverse..."

The toad nodded, "Yes, that's right."

"So to return...he just has to unsummon me—or I just unsummon myself, right?"

"Oh I see," Kakashi eye-smiled, "If one of your clones dispels due to trouble you would know and all you would have to do is release the summon."

To everyone's surprise, Naruto shook his head in the negative.

"My location would still be the same distance, regardless of my travel method, and using clones over that distance wears me down a lot. Juhi always thought I was anemic or something...it always made training more difficult than it should have been when I had my specialized clones running about across the continent."

"Then what...?"

"Simple...It will be like a nine to five job. I can be summoned in the morning, I'll spend the day training, and then I return at night. That way I would be more aware of what was happening in Konoha and be sufficiently prepared if the Akatsuki start moving again rather than being left in the dark wondering what's going on."

As decent as the plan sounded, Tsunade couldn't help but call him out.

"You do realize the one, glaring flaw in that plan, don't you?"

Naruto sighed and steeled his nerves against the ache in his heart that never recovered.

"I'm willing to trust you to keep Hitomi safe during the day," he said slowly.

"I'm very glad that you're agreeing to this, Naruto-chan," Fukasaku said happily, "And don't you worry about cute Hitomi-chan. We'll have a toad stay in the village when you're not here incase anything happens. That way we can alert you immediately if Konoha is attacked while you're training."

Naruto smiled appreciatively at him. It was a small comfort to know that he had so many people willing to accommodate his fears—at least until he learned to work through them. Again.

"Well, now that that's settled," Tsunade said briskly, "I feel the need to caution you once again—Naruto, don't roll your eyes at me—to try and hold yourself back."

"Tsunade, you do not ask people to hold back on training. It's counterproductive."

"I'm surprised you know that word, Naruto," Kakashi teased. Naruto pouted.

"Oi, I learned a few things while I was away you know."

"But not class, right?" Tsunade couldn't help but jab and Naruto's pout turned into a grimace.

"Don't worry Tsunade-chan," Pa-toad mollified, "Naruto-chan simply needs to learn how to access the sage chakra appropriately. He has the concepts and practical aspects down to a tee, as he's demonstrated to me before. His own power won't be expanding; he'll just learn how to contact another pool of energy. I suspect it will mostly consist of refinement—but that doesn't mean it won't be hard."

"Don't worry about me, I never do anything half-assed," Naruto declared with an assuring grin. He just barely caught Kakashi's muttered: "That's an understatement".

"Nevertheless," Tsunade said, "I would feel better if you have Moegi try and stem the chakra flow from the seal before you set off for this. She should be arriving tomorrow afternoon."

Naruto shrugged.

"Alright. Then I guess we'll start the day after tomorrow? What is that? Tuesday?"

"Thursday."

Naruto cringed, "Damn, I gotta get Hitomi back to school."

And on that note, how was he going to explain the truth to Bassai? Would he just not say anything and let people believe that he was still a refugee of a destroyed village? There was nothing worse than undeserved sympathy. He cared about those people; he didn't want to lie to them if he didn't have to.

"So Naruto, now that we have that part figured out, let's smooth over the details regarding Hitomi."

Naruto already had a plan.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

When Naruto arrived at the park it was no longer just Sakura who was with Hitomi. Team ten, minus Kurenai, were present as well, and with them was Keiji. The two three year olds were playing on opposite sides of the sandbox. Keiji was meticulously drawing circles in the grainy substance before him. Hitomi was eating it by the handful.

"No, no, Hitomi-chan! Don't eat the sand! Come on now, let it go," Ino was struggling to pull the sand-containing fist away from the girls mouth, but was finding it disturbingly hard to do so. How could a three year old be besting her in raw strength? It didn't help that she was trying not to accidently get her fingers chomped on by those fangs.

"What's going on here?" Naruto said as he approached. It was an unnecessary question as the answer was quite obvious to him.

"Oh, Naruto!" Ino jumped up, trying to look as if she and Sakura had the entire situation under control. "I-I'm sorry but she—"

"Don't worry about it," Naruto soothed her before turning to Hitomi and speaking in a strong, clear, and commanding voice, "Tomi—drop it!"

Like a dog with a bone, Hitomi immediately released the sand in her hand. The evidence of early consumption remained around the corners of her mouth.

Sakura whistled, impressed. Naruto was just thankful that no one was physically hurt in his absence.

"Watching Keiji today?" he asked over his shoulder to the two men lounging on a park bench. They were a good twenty feet away, mostly likely because of Shikamaru's adopted need for a nicotine fixing.

"Kurenai-sensei is on a mission," Chouji explained, "Usually, when that happens, one of us will take care of him."

Right then and there Naruto made a mental note to talk to Kurenai. Maybe she could help him work through his inhibiting phobia.

"That or we make a group effort out of it," Shikamaru added, "He's a pretty easy kid all in all, unlike your troublesome girl..."

The blonde laughed. Shikamaru was probably the last person who would want to care for Hitomi.

"How was your meeting?" Sakura asked, "Are you in trouble?"

While she didn't know the details of what went down yesterday, despite her best efforts to get Tsunade to talk, she did know that _something_ happened and Naruto was responsible for it.

"I'm doing the training," he admitted and her face lit up.

"That's great! And Hitomi...?"

Naruto sighed for what felt like the umpteenth time that day, "I'm entrusting her care with you."

Sakura smiled widely, "Well, I'm glad. You know you don't have to worry, none of us will let anything happen to her."

"No I mean you. Specifically."

"I—eh?"

"I'll be gone most hours of the day," Naruto briefed, "While I'm gone you'll be living in my house in Bassai, taking care of Hitomi...as well as protecting her."

Sakura thought this was a bit much, "Now wait just a minute! While I'm happy you trust me with this, you can't just tell me how I'm going to live—!"

"It's a mission," Naruto added hastily, "You'll be hearing about it from Tsunade soon enough."

"Oh," Sakura's indignation deflated, "Well, then thanks...I guess."

"It's going to be A-rank."

"Aw, no fair!" Ino whined, getting up from the sandbox and brushing off her sandy bottom, "Forehead gets A-rank pay for playing house?"

"With the potential for an attack by the Akatsuki...yes," Naruto said. His father senses tingled and his gaze automatically targeted his daughter. "Tomi, don't _do_ that!"

Hitomi, who had been sprinkling sand in Keiji's hair whenenever the little boy wasn't looking, begrudgingly stopped (yet was secretly please that she gained her father's attention for a moment). The two women giggled at the petulant look the child sent him.

"When does this start?" Sakura asked, finding a bit more appeal to the up and coming mission—possible terrorist attack aside.

"Day after tomorrow I think. Moegi's going to try and fix a leak in the seal and then I'll head out."

"There's a leak?" Sakura gasped.

"Been there for a while, it's nothing to worry about," he said, trying to dismiss her concern. Dawning seemed to reach Ino after a few seconds of looking between the two.

"Are you talking about the 'you-know-what'?" she whispered conspiringly.

Naruto was informed by Kakashi that the details regarding his tenant were released to everyone involved in the ninja program, no matter the rank. It was one of the man's first moves after he was declared the Hokage position—an especially necessary action as the Akatsuki were becoming a world threat and their ninja needed to know exactly why they were being targeted.

The younger generation didn't experience the Kyuubi's attack first hand and, as such, didn't harbor any of the bitter resentment that clouded the older generation's opinions. In fact, Kakashi laughingly stated that a number of the gennin even thought Naruto was 'cool' for having a demon sealed within him. Bring on the hero worship.

Naruto gave Ino a bleak look.

"You can say its name, you know. It's not going to curse you."

Ino huffed, "Well excuse me for trying to be sensitive!"

"BOSS!!!"

Those gathered turned to see another Naruto running elatedly towards them and brandishing a stick.

"You found him!" Their Naruto cried with equal enthusiasm, "Gim'me!"

Just when the clone was close enough Naruto had snatched the length of wood from his grips and began inspecting it. Relief flooded him at the sight of the seals which contained the rings. They were undamaged; he still had both rings

"He's so dirty!"

"I know," the clone said, "I tried to wipe off most of the ash...I have a lot to tell you..."

Naruto nodded.

"Go back to the apartment and study some scrolls or something. Do NOT dispel until I say you can. I don't want to risk collapsing in the middle of a park."

"Aye aye," the clone saluted sarcastically before bouncing off toward the nearest apartment complex.

Naruto cradled Stick to his chest, using the proximity to ensure that no other seals were altered in the explosion.

"Aw, Stick, you poor thing," he muttered while he ran his hand over the etchings, "I'm sorry for abandoning you like that..."

Hitomi laughed at the sight of her dad hugging his beloved piece of wood and Naruto was reminded that there were other people in the vicinity.

"Naruto..._what_ are you doing?" Shikamaru asked sharply, his cigarette nearly falling out of his mouth. Chouji and Ino stood near to him, both equally bowled over and unsure of what they were seeing. Sakura stayed by the children with one, pink eyebrow quirked.

"So whose your friend?" she asked wryly. Naruto proudly held Stick out on display for all to see.

"You guys, I'd like you to meet Stick. Stick, these are the guys."

Sakura blinked rapidly; she didn't think he'd actually answer.

"I knew it...I knew it was too good to be true," Ino muttered, a hand pressed to her forehead as she wandered away, "He's completely lost it."

Shikamaru approached cautiously.

"Naruto...that's a stick."

Naruto glowered at the brunette.

"Shikamaru...put that out before I put you out."

The genius snuffed out his cigarette and flicked it towards the nearest trashcan without complaint.

"No seriously," he said, "What's this about? Where did that clone come from?"

"This is my preferred weapon," Naruto answered, "I sent the clone to retrieve it from the border yesterday."

No one needed to ask which border.

"Please don't tell me you went in to fight the Akatsuki with a piece of wood," Sakura pleaded faintly, "Please."

Naruto looked affronted.

"Hey! Stick and I are a team!"

"You named your stick, Stick?" Chouji deadpanned, quickly getting over the shock of such a weapon, "Seriously? That was the best you can do?"

"Yes," Naruto said in complete earnest.

"Well, it's obviously not a normal stick, right?" Sakura prompted. "I mean, it must have special properties...right?"

"Of course."

"So where did you get it?"

"Off the forest floor."

"Naruto!"

"What? I found it in the woods," he said, smiling at the gaping look on her face, "Now, if you don't mind, Stick and I have some business to attend to. Come on Hitomi."

"Kay!" she cheeped and hopped out of the sandbox without a second glance back at Keiji. "Hiya, hiya, Sticky!"

She patted the stick a couple times in greeting. For the first time in over a year Sakura felt honest concern for that child's wellbeing.

"Thanks for watching over her guys," Naruto said, taking Hitomi's hand in his own, "I'll see you later."

The four adults stood there, watching as father, daughter and stick headed down the same path the clone had taken a moment ago.

"A stick..." Shikamaru repeated, shaking his head.

"He's gotta be messing with us," Ino concluded, "It's a prank. It's gotta be."

"Something tells me he's not...and that scares me," Sakura responded.

Chouji still looked lost.

"Stick? He couldn't have come up with anything better than that?"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Old McDonald had a farm..."

"E I E I OOOO!"

"And on that farm he had a..."

"Fuh-wah!"

Naruto's clone laughed and joined in the toddler's singing, "E I E I OOO!"

"With a..."

"Ching ching!" Hitomi supplied loudly.

"Here and a..."

"Ching ching!"

"—there..."

The clone went along with it, wondering when Fuzz-wad ever went "ching ching". He had yet to get the go-head to dispel from Naruto; instead his creator had returned home only to force the ever dreaded "bath-duty" on him to rid Hitomi of any sand. Thankfully, it had long since been discovered that singing cured Hitomi's need to water the house.

Out in the foreroom the original Naruto smiled. After Moegi tweaks his seal tomorrow he would be returning to Bassai, where Hitomi would be able to see Fuzz-wad once again. Until then, he had some inside information to gather.

He seated himself at the foot of his couch; Stick laid across his lap in his usual meditation fashion. The blood was applied, the appropriate seals were activated, and now he was going to get some answers.

Seconds later, after gaining vision into the Akatsuki's lair, Naruto received that last kind of welcome he expected.

"Naruto-kun!"

Madara sounded _delighted_ at his presence. Pein was giving his superior a disgusted look for his enthusiasm before he turned his glower on the techni-colored figure that had suddenly appeared. Naruto smirked.

"That's three of your guys I've got now, Pein. But, hey, who's counting?"

A studded lip curled, "The last three, I assure you. Your days are numbered, Jinchuuriki."

The threat was old and Naruto found himself more interested in seeing the other members in attendance. Of course the entirety of the Akatsuki would be present. He had studied a bit more into the inner workings of the rings and knew that they were connected to Pein. Pein could tell when someone was activating the rings and probably warned Madara ahead of time that it was most likely him. He regretted not capturing Konan's before Pein made off with her body.

"Hey Sasuke," he greeted his old teammate pleasantly enough, "Hey Sasuke's team. How's it going?"

"Fucking shithead!" Suigetsu snapped, feeling demeaned by such an amicable greeting, "I'm glad Pein didn't kill you, 'cause now I have the pleasure of tearing you in two myself!"

Naruto graced him with a humorless look.

"You have a seriously distorted gauge of power...so, you're Karin, right?" Naruto asked, pointedly looking to the only girl left and ignoring Suigetsu's squawks of indignation.

Karin nodded hesitantly. She knew nothing of this boy but stories. Stories of his weaknesses by Sasuke's account, stories of his strengths by Pein-sama's account, and stories of his potential by Madara-sama. She decided she didn't want to piss him off, just to be on the safe side.

"And Juugo," Naruto concluded, looking to the last figure. He wanted to make sure he had personal confirmation on his information. Juugo returned to him a single nod. The big man seemed perfectly calm, if not a little subdued.

They seemed alright in Naruto's opinion. Still enemies, but alright.

"What do you want...Naruto?" Sasuke asked in a low, dark voice. He had hesitated just before speaking his name, as if he was debating on whether to use it or not. Oddly enough, his entire posture pointed to uncertainty; his usual assumptions of the blonde were being shredded one by one.

"Yes, I'm sure Naruto-kun didn't grace us with his presence just for introductions," Madara offered, "So please relay to us what you wish."

"Stop this now," Naruto cut to the chase, "Whatever you're planning, just stop it. Leave me and Konoha alone. Abandon whatever pathetic plans you've got going on now—because we both know that if I don't stop it, someone else will. You won't succeed in the end, these things never do."

Pein took a step forward to retort but Madara threw a hand into his path.

"And if we were to...stop, as you put it, what then?" he asked.

"If you do...I will promise to return the favor."

The way Naruto said it, as if it were they who should have been afraid of him—the predator needing protection from the prey—had Madara laughing heartily.

"My, my, you've grown quite confident Naruto-kun. I'll admit, you've demonstrated your power splendidly."

Jaw clenched tight enough to crack teeth; Pein swiftly sidestepped Madara and approached the projection.

"What you speak of is foolhardy. Akatsuki is your greatest enemy. Can you actually look me in the eye and tell me that you will never kill any one of us?"

"If I never see you—or anyone in this hideout—again," Naruto gave Sasuke a meaningful look as he said this, "I promise I won't go hunting you down. That's the best I can offer, I'm afraid."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the subtle threat.

"You are in no position to be making such demands," Pein countered. He couldn't believe Madara-sama was just letting the boy get away with this. They were losing control and he did nothing to hide it.

Naruto snorted at the assumption.

"Am I not? I believe Konoha—not just me—has been cutting down your forces steadily for the last few years."

"Yes, it is quite an accomplishment," Madara stated calmly and Naruto could hear the smile in his voice, "I'm afraid you've left us no choice but to recruit."

Pein looked at Madara with affront. Now he was giving away their plans?

"But I take it that attacking Konoha is still on the agenda?" Naruto asked.

"Eventually," Madara admitted with an incline of his head.

Naruto released a breath as he read between the lines: they still had some time.

"And Sasuke," Naruto continued, turning to said man, "Will you join in attacking as well?"

Sasuke met Naruto's stare directly and spoke a clear, undisputable, "Yes."

He didn't explain himself and Naruto didn't need him to. That was it. There was no 'maybe' or 'possibly' or 'what if's' anymore. Sasuke was an enemy of Konoha and he would be treated as one.

"Heh, who'd of thought the number one rookie could have fallen so low," Naruto said in a wistful, nostalgic voice. He spoke as if he were remembering a fond memory rather than making a cold observation.

Sasuke didn't go for the bait, but the corner of his mouth twitched with the threat of a smile.

"Call it irony. I am Konoha's greatest ninja they have ever produced, and it will be their own downfall when I crush the Leaf."

"Oh no, Sasuke, Konoha can't take credit for whatever you've become. You made sure of that years ago when you defected," Naruto countered, "But I will admit, you are Konoha's greatest disappointment."

Sasuke said nothing more, but a shadow had passed over his eyes. Karin eyed him worriedly, if he fell into one of his superiority complex-funks he'd be taking it out on them later in training.

"Settle down boys," Madara ordered like he was speaking to his own two children. His relaxed attitude pertaining to Naruto's triumphs still baffled the young man; it put him more on edge than Pein and Sasuke's open intentions.

He would worry about that when the time came. For now, he had all the information he needed; there was no point in provoking Pein into any premature actions against Konoha.

"Well I'll be off now," the Jinchuuriki saluted, "Got laundry to do and all that. Till next time!"

Naruto cheerfully departed, Madara's laughing and Suigetsu's swears ringing in his ears as he returned to awareness.

His eyes opened and the soft rap of knuckle against wood further drew him from his meditation. Someone was knocking on the door. He pushed himself up and stretched, leaning stick against the wall as he answered the call.

It was Sakura on the other side and, oddly enough, she was looking quite unsure of herself.

"Hey Sakura, come in."

She smiled and stepped through the threshold.

"Thanks. Sorry for dropping by like this, I—," she paused as she spotted 'Stick' leaning against the wall before forcibly continuing; "I just thought we should smooth over some of the details about my 'mission'."

"Sure thing. Want something to drink?" Sakura declined and Naruto gestured to the couch, "Well then have a seat."

"Where is she now?" the woman asked, flicking the tail end of her pulled back hair over her shoulder. Naruto found it odd that her hair was longer again, now kept in a low pony tail. It was a startling difference to Ino's gathered bun.

"Bath." He answered, "It's supervised, don't worry."

As he said it, the clone's voice picked up in volume.

"_Tomi, don't poop in the tub!"_

Hearing Naruto's voice coming from another room while she was facing him didn't startle Sakura in the least.

"I wasn't," she laughed as her companion rubbed his forehead bashfully, "So give me a rundown on how things go in Bassai."

Naruto settled on the edge of the coffee table, facing Sakura, and clasped his hands between his knees.

"Alright. Well, Monday through Friday Tomi goes to preschool. We leave the house around seven fifteen and walk there; she knows the way. Make lunch for her beforehand, she eats there. She gets picked up at one, what you do in that time is up to you. There's a spot about a kilometer deep into the woods behind my house where I train. Tomi can show you.

"I usually work at the bar on most nights, but I don't expect you to do that; Yasei—he's a friend—he'll pick up the slack. Should be good for that delinquent...er, anyway, I'd still take Hitomi there a few times during the week since she loves it—"

"You take her to a bar?!" Sakura abruptly screeched and Naruto was sent into a bewildered fit of rapid blinking.

Once realizing his mistake, he laughed, "Haha, oh no! No! My bad—not _that_ kind of bar. Its Juhi's inn, we know everyone there. Same customers just about every night—Oh! If you do, beware of Ichiro. Don't let him buy you any drinks, it will only encourage him."

Mollified, Sakura nodded.

"Ichiro—Drinks—Bad. Got it."

"She likes to play with her school friends after school, but she also likes to play in the woods. If she does go out in the woods you don't have to worry too much...just try to keep tabs on her and make sure she stays in the area. Don't let her climb too high in trees—accidents happen, ya know?

"Oh! And she has a...forest friend. Don't worry about that; most animals avoid us, must be the youkai or something, but not this one. It's harmless—to her anyway—so no need to freak out. Just don't let it in the house, no matter what she says. I know she'll try and get away with that."

Sakura stared, eyes unfocused at the onslaught of information but still catching that he was avoiding mentioning exactly what kind of animal it was.

"Uh—ok?"

"She usually goes down for a nap around three—those last about an hour or two, depending on what she's been doing. As I'm sure you've noticed, she's a good eater—she even likes vegetables. She picks up some bad habits from her school, at least, I hope it's from her school 'cause I have no idea where else she learns it. Sorry, anyway, if you catch her being rude or doing anything bad, don't be afraid to let her have it. Do you want to write any of this down?"

"I got it all up here," Sakura smirked and tapped her generous forehead. Naruto smiled, subconsciously noting that Sakura appeared to have grown out of certain insecurities.

"Of course you do," he granted her, "Anyway, you won't be alone. Kakashi will have ANBU nearby just in case. There will also be a toad summon if there's any reason I need to be contacted immediately."

Sakura was nodding, "Sounds good. I'm sure Hitomi and I will get along fine. You just worry about completing that special training of yours."

Naruto's smile was hesitant.

"I already got the basics down. Hopefully it won't take me too long..."

His face dropped into one of consternation as he recalled exactly why he wanted to finish faster. He replayed his "meeting" with Akatsuki and recalled what he heard from Sasuke's own lips. Sakura noticed the unexpected subduing of his mood.

"What's wrong?" she asked, leaning forward from her seat so that her head was bowed toward his.

A scream and a splash were heard from the other room, followed by a bout of incessant giggles courtesy of Hitomi. Naruto forced himself to look Sakura in the eye.

"I think I should warn you...I want you to understand where Sasuke stands now. I know I promised that I would bring him back, but that is no longer possible. Not as a Konoha-nin anyway."

Sakura was quick to straighten, wondering where the topic had even come from.

"W-what do you mean?"

"When Akatsuki attacks—and they _will_ attack—Sasuke will be with them. As I'm sure you know, two of his targets are still in Konoha."

The rose-haired woman looked down at her lap. She knew, of course. She'd known for years. She'd been preparing herself for years. Naruto was having a hard time trying to read her reaction, so he went with his most obvious assumption.

"Sasuke was my first friend, and for that he'll always be important to me, but that can't influence my objectives anymore. I will not allow him to come near Konoha again," Naruto had thought about this many times before; even if Sasuke didn't admit to wanting to destroy Konoha Naruto would have done what he could to keep him away—to protect him. A part of him still wanted Sasuke to be happy, "Who were we kidding? Even if we did get Sasuke back within Konoha's walls we would never be a team again. He would spend the rest of his life in jail or burdened with some other imprisonment or even executed. We were optimistic to the point of stupidity."

The aspiring medic winced as the painful truth that she had been avoiding for years was thrown in her face. Her flinch caused Naruto a grimace of his own, wondering if he was being to harsh.

"I'm sorry...I'm not sure what your feelings are on the subject but I just thought you should be prepared to know that."

"So...you're giving up on him?"

Sakura felt cold anger crawl around her torso, but not for reasons she could explain. It wasn't about Sasuke specifically...it was more the fact that she and Naruto were no longer searching for their lost teammate together. That was it. That was why she never tried to reason with their desperate search for Sasuke, because it meant that there was no 'together' anymore. Naruto was still pulling away from her and it hurt.

But Sakura didn't voice this realization and her words continued to give him the wrong impression.

"I _will_ kill Sasuke if it comes to it," Naruto stated with brutal clarity so that there would be no mistaking his intentions, "My priorities have changed and I'm not going to appease your crush at the price of my daughter."

Her head shot up and his long-time teammate stared at him with a most unreadable expression. Sakura's brain felt slow and heavy as she tried to sort through all the things she wanted to scream at him within the span of a few seconds.

In the end she managed to choke out a few incredulous words.

"How...how could you even—? I—I can't believe...I would never ask that of you!" she finally spit out, unable to believe what she was hearing, "Especially...especially not at the expense of something precious to you!"

Naruto glanced out the window, his eyelid's drooping a bit as he softened his gaze.

"You have before."

He said it quietly but Sakura still felt the sting. She clenched her fists in her lap and stared heatedly ahead.

"Do you think I'm twelve still?" she asked, her mind reeling with the different prospects of what kind of person Naruto thought she was. Had he not seen any of the progress she made over the years? "Kill him if you need to, do what you have to do. But promise me one thing."

Her words startled him into meeting her gaze. A promise...it was the single demand that was Naruto's Achilles' heel, and he was leery to agree.

"What? I'm—I'm already breaking the one I made to you—"

Sakura was shaking her head at him, a light smile playing on her lips.

"Let me help. Don't leave me behind anymore. I'm not a prodigy like Sasuke and I'm not amazingly powerful like you, but I'm not useless either."

"Sakura..." Naruto couldn't keep down the full blown grin that worked its way onto his face. He had been so hell bent on protecting Hitomi, on protecting _himself_, that he had refused to acknowledge Sakura as an ally in his personal mission. Maybe it was the unintentional pain she caused him when they were little or the possibility that she still was obsessed with the Uchiha, but out of reflex he had kept his distance, not even digging into the matter on whether she would support his decisions or not.

A loud squeal interrupted them and Sakura had the privilege of seeing a naked three year old race through the room, leaving a trail of suds in her wake. Seconds later a clone of Naruto followed; a towel in his hands and an exasperated expression etched onto his face. He paused in his chase and turned to his creator.

"You get her. I quit."

It dispelled, the towel fluttering to the ground. Naruto frowned at the place where his clone used to be and sighed, moving to pick up the fallen towel.

"They're all useless," he muttered, "Well, aside from the 'getting me more powerful than necessary' part—ugh!"

"Naruto!" Sakura cried out as he doubled over.

Visions were flashing in his mind at a whirlwind pace, automatically organizing themselves in proper chronological order, forcing his brain to review everything that happened. His clones could feel; he didn't just receive sight intel, but emotional as well. He felt the guilt, the shame, for what he did to the forest. He felt the shock of finding another Jinchuuriki in the area, the joy of finding Stick. Killer Bee—Kirabi—he wasn't coming near Konoha for safety reasons, he knew of Hitomi and didn't want to bring anymore danger to her. He was heading to the south to catch some waves; they would stay in contact via Naruto's toads and his moles. He wanted revenge on the Akatsuki as well...he stubbed his toe on a rock on the way back—

"Naruto!" Sakura tried again, "Are you okay?"

He opened his eyes—not realizing that he had closed them in the first place—and found that he had been pushed onto the couch by his overly-concerned teammate. Naruto gave her a shaky, reassuring smile.

"Errgh...naughty, naughty clone...heh, I told him to wait until I went to bed...damn it!"

"Are you okay?" Sakura asked again, her fret hardly easing. It must have been awhile since she had last seen him collapse from information overload.

"Oh noes, daddy, you gots boo boos?" Hitomi's naked torso had popped into view. Her wet hair curled around her head like a little halo. How ironic.

"I'm ok," he said, pushing himself into a seated position. "It was the shock of seeing you running around naked. It made me faint."

"No!" she laughed and jumped up on his lap. Sakura, after calming her heart down from the sudden scare, went to retrieve the towel.

"Aw, you got me all wet," he pouted, much to the child's hilarity. He picked her up as he stood, gratefully accepting the cloth that Sakura handed to him, "Come on, we gotta get this soap off of you, suddy."

"Yo' suddy buddy," Hitomi said back, thrilled with her own rhyming. Naruto was suddenly struck with the idea that Kirabi would use her to think up 'rap' lines if they ever met.

Sakura watched the two head towards the bathroom and giggled behind her hand. Despite the moment of tension she and Naruto shared earlier, she felt she had made progress with working her way through that hard exterior he had built over the years.

"Oh man, Tomi, look at all this sand!" she could hear Naruto exclaim from the open door. She could only imagine what the bottom of the bathtub looked like, "How did you get all this in here?!"

"Sticky-stick-stick did it!"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Pein glared down at the figure crouched before his feet. His fabled eyes caught the presence of every being that had entered in conjunction with of the new arrival.

"Tell me," he said, never relenting in his hard stare, "why would someone bearing the Konoha symbol seek out the very man who is planning to wipe it out?"

The visitor raised his head, a grim smile fixed on the weary and aged jaw.

"I know what you want. I'll get you the Jinchuuriki...if you get me the position of Hokage."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Woooo, sorry for the delay. Complications and all that.

I'm sure most of you have noticed that Naruto is dappling the art of bullying. Yes Naruto is going to learn how to twist an arm or two and not always in the nicest of ways. He's still headstrong and still passionate about what he believes in. Such beliefs are just being honed in a different direction than what the 16-yr-old in the manga has going on. After everything I've had Naruto go though, I should _hope_ so.

Speaking of manga...omfgskullzforlulz XD...yeesh, I may just be turned into a naruhina fan now.

Kidding. Relax. While it was a brilliant confession on her part, I'm kind of hoping she _is_ dead, but not in a spiteful kind of way. People complain that Kishi's been killing too many people off…well I say it's about damn time. This is the effing ninja world, the fact that Naruto's entire generation has survived thus far seems ludicrous to me, no matter how good they are. Plus it would make for some great angsty drama; Naru-chan is so cute when he suffers! Kukukukuku 3

Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'm finished describing reactions to Naruto/Hitomi/Stick so a little more plot action is on order. I didn't want to do the usual: oh wowz everyone comes to visit Naruto all at once and learns what he's been up to all together. It is ridiculously unrealistic yet seems to happen in every other fic. I'm pretty sure I've done it before myself. Plus this is supposed to be a slow moving fic, over all.

I am also lazy and do not want to describe what people look like in detail. I've dropped hints here and there but if you really want an idea just look at my deviant art (homepage on my profile). I drew Tenten, Sakura, and Ino. Man, now I feel guilty for not doing Hinata u.u

Thanks for the feedback you awesome possums! Even the complaints help my writing by letting me know what I'm not focusing enough on and/or focusing too much on. We may be getting into a few small timeskips soon enough.

**Next chap**: Training, windy-luffin, and a huffy Sasuke


	19. Straying the Strategy

**Chapter 19**

"I must say, you're a natural at this Naruto-chan. Your bond with nature is amazingly strong," Fukasaku commented with open admiration.

The young man had encountered few problems when it came to connecting himself to the world around him; nature energy seemed to flock towards the aspiring sage the moment he opened himself to it. With a little help from the toad oil, Naruto had managed to grapple some control over the nature chakra much faster than any previous pupil Fukasaku could remember. The boy's substantial chakra supply, as well as his connection with his chosen element, had become contributing factors that gave Naruto quite an edge over the unique training.

Of course, with all the meditation exercise Naruto had done over the last few years it was not a surprising conclusion. Though, it was always nice to see the fruition of such dedication paying off.

Rubbing his head, Naruto couldn't look too pleased with himself; despite Fukasaku's words of encouragement, the old toad _had_ just whacked him over the head with a stick. It was frustrating enough trying to balance three different energies...having a crazy, old toad the size of his foot beating him around with a piece of wood wasn't helping matters.

Annoyance aside, he had to admit: the toads had a keen eye for good weapons.

"Maybe too strong," Naruto muttered, digging his fingers into the earth beneath his knees as he gathered his bearings from the blow. The clout to the skull had hurt, yes, but having such potent energy sucked out of his being so readily was what really left Naruto disoriented. It helped steady him if he focused on the cool moisture enveloping his fingertips, moisture that had yet to meet the sun's rays until that moment.

So far he found that natural energy was rather easy to call upon; it was what happened afterwards that still caught him unawares. Every time he started gathering the third force he found that he couldn't stop at the proper amount to balance out his physical and spiritual energy, and he had a hunch as to why.

He had spent the last couple of years meditating and practicing what he could of senjutsu without the toad oil to use as a crutch; this had him pulling at the world around him as forcefully as he could to feel a shred of the power he was currently being loaded with—back then he knew no other way. Now he was overcompensating his 'pull' out of habit and he didn't know how to stop the onslaught of such a powerful force mingling with his own being.

And he thought this would be easy...

Naruto sighed and looked over the stratum of snowy peaks that encircled Mount Myouboku. The sight was majestic, yet calming. The mountains were beautiful in that they were still untouched by human settlement. He often found himself wondering how long that would last.

As ridiculous a the very notion was, he _still_ felt guilty for decimating that forest, for taking the lives of hundreds—maybe even thousands—of animals. It lingered within him, categorized under his ever-growing list of failures...taunting him...serving as both an obstacle and catalyst in his training...

Scowling, Naruto rubbed a hand over his face, unknowingly smudging his forehead with dirt.

What the hell was wrong with him these days? It was as though all he could feel was guilt or fear and it was maddening! While his return to Konoha _did_ refresh the pain of having Kensha killed...it also returned to him memories which dated much further back.

When he was a child, just a wee aspiring gennin, he was tough, he was resilient, and he didn't care who he had to step on to survive in the world. By seven-years-old he had accepted that the world was against him and the only one who could save him was _himself_. He stopped crying, he stopped waiting and he stopped wishing. He learned that the only way to achieve a dream was with his own two hands and by his own integrity. He couldn't expect support or effort from anyone else.

Becoming Hokage was a realistic objective to him because it relied on events he could control for the most part. He could train, he could bargain, and he could fight his way to the top. Achieving a family, on the other hand...that was something that was out of his control; that was a dream he thought to be too optimistic and relied too much on chance to even engage.

And yet... it was just _that_ which threw him off his one-way course to becoming Hokage. He achieved that second dream without even meaning to. For once, something fell into his lap—as unready as he was for it, it came to him—and it was something he didn't have to work at to get. Instead, it was something he had to work at to keep.

He had made peace with the fact that he could never go back to being that self-interested child whose guard kept him from being hurt. He wasn't surviving for himself anymore. He could not put any other personal aspirations before his daughter's needs because she was his world now and everything he did was for her. His sense of responsibility grew tenfold over the last few years and he learned firsthand what it felt like to make a decision for someone else; her failures were his failures.

Now he could understand an aspect of Hokageship that couldn't be explained by a predecessor, it had to be experienced firsthand. The duty of a Hokage to his people would be akin to having an entire village full of Hitomi's; each decision would impact their lives by even the smallest chain of events.

Give it a few more years and maybe he would be ready for that kind of responsibility—for how he would be content to take on the burden of raising a decent person for a daughter and saving the world from Akatsuki.

But damn—he didn't expect that opening up a little vulnerability towards his actions would cause him to feel accountable for every little thing his judgment caused!

"Ready to try again?"

Blinking back from his thoughts, and realizing that he must have zoned out for quite some time, Naruto nodded. Fukasaku looked a little too eager with that bat in Naruto's opinion; it was fortunate he had a ludicrously hard head.

"Yeah sure..."

"Naruto-chan," the elder toad began reproachfully, "This exercise requires your _entire_ focus. I know you're concerned about Hitomi-chan but you gotta give it your all while you're here, otherwise you'll end up like them."

He gestured to the panorama of giant, stone toads sown about the training ground; a reminder and tribute to all who had failed to learn senjutsu.

Naruto did _not_ want to be added to the creepy toad garden of boulders.

"You're right, you're right...I'm sorry."

He took another deep breath and re-crossed his legs. This time he would get it for sure.

Fukasaku smiled at the compliance. Here before him was a completely different boy from the one who refused his training all those years ago.

"You should relax more often. I'm sure that wherever Hitomi-chan is, she's doing just fine," Fukasaku offered his pupil as some peace of mind, "After all, she has Kosuke to protect her."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Along the outskirts of Bassai's forest, a small, violet toad sporting a pair of grey goggles around his neck was traveling amidst the lower branches at breakneck speed. Occasionally he would glance behind him in weary fear, only to redouble his efforts in escaping the terror that followed.

"Foggy! Foggy fog-fog! Come back foggy! I just want ta pway wit-choo!" said terror exclaimed, under the impression that the entire chase was just an amusing game.

"Naruto-aniki better get me some damn good pocky for this," Kosuke panted as he expertly hopped from tree branch to tree branch. He was a gama-nin for Bunta's sake! Why was this kid still keeping up with him? "I didn't sign up for this shit!"

"And Fuzz-wah wants ta pway wit-choo too!"

A thick river of tears flowed down his bumpy cheeks at the reminder of the freaking _fisher cat _following not too far behind.

"Aniki, please hurry back—I'm too young to croak!"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Pein stalked toward the inner most chamber of the Akatsuki's hideout, his cloak billowing around his knees after each deliberate step. Behind him, and surprisingly managing to keep up against his handicaps, was Danzo of Konoha. The elderly man's root ANBU were trailing him as well, keeping to the shadows and out of sight.

In no time he had bodily pushed his way past the thick door and into the assembly room where he knew his leader to be.

"Ah, Pein, I see you've brought us a guest," Madara commented upon the blusterous entrance. It took him no time to recognize the elderly man who followed his subordinate into the room and he cast a furtive glance at his distant family member. Any moment now the boy would recognize who had just breezed into the room.

"Yes," Pein answered in his usual bland voice, "We have our first new recruit...and he has been kind enough to bring cannon fodder."

A few of the root ANBU shifted with unease. They followed Danzo-sama out of loyalty; they had never acknowledged any other superior and, as such, that allegiance was all they knew in the world. It was enough for them to follow the man into the depths of Hell, enough to lay themselves at the mercy of the Akatsuki, all for the sake of putting a capable leader at the head of Konoha. There was no going back at this point, there were no other options—but that didn't make things any less distressing for them.

The sound of wood clamoring against a stone ground drew all attention to Sasuke—whose chair was now several feet behind him as a result of his abrupt dismount.

"You!" the youngest Uchiha snarled with his Sharingan pin-wheeling portentously at Danzo. Danzo knew in that moment that the boy had learned of the truth behind the Uchiha massacre.

"Sit Sasuke," Madara commanded in a bored voice.

"_That man—!_"

"Sit."

As even and delicate as the voice rung, there was an underlying command that was undisputable—a trait that could only be achieved through decades of issuing orders and expecting immediate obedience.

Eyes focused and unblinking on the cripple, Sasuke lowered himself into the seat that Karin had hurriedly up-righted. While Danzo appeared unfazed by the outburst, even he knew better than to aggravate the already volatile boy. It was his top priority to gain the boy's forgiveness, and if not that then his cooperation at the very least.

"Sasuke, you will behave yourself and work alongside Danzo-san unless instructed otherwise," Madara continued. Sasuke remained stubbornly unresponsive. He wasn't going to take orders from someone who thought Naruto was a "delightful adversary". And he sure as hell wasn't going to work alongside the man who ordered for his family to be killed. It was clear that the time for change had arrived.

"You know what he did to our family," Sasuke hissed, his glare promising nothing but a painful demise for Danzo. He may not have been able to physically attack the bastard, but he could still get his point across without moving from his position by letting his will be known.

Danzo's eye widened as he was pelted with some of the most potent killing intent he had felt since the Kyuubi attack nearly two decades ago. It was truly an impressive feat when one so young is able to shock a seasoned ninja like himself. Establishing some sort of rapport between him and the boy was now an absolute necessity.

Madara spared Sasuke an exasperated glance that was, as usual, hidden behind his mask, "I know what he did and I know why he did it. I respect his decision. I don't expect _you_ to, of course, but perhaps one day you will learn to comprehend the true burdens of responsibility."

His words might have sent Sasuke into a sputtering rage had the young man not already adapted to Madara's senseless logic.

"I apologize, Uchiha-san, for the choice we made in removing your family," Danzo spoke up. The top half of his body fell forward in a repentant bow, "It was a decision we made for the greater good of Konoha and it came at the expense of your kin. I do not expect your forgiveness. As for why I'm here, the Jinchuuriki exposed the root division in a most...uncouth way. There was no point in trying to cover my covert actions any further."

Sasuke's only response was to augment his killing intent. Every day of this bullshit was driving the Uchiha scion further and further from his original plan to ride with the Akatsuki to complete his revenge...and Danzo's arrival simply added fuel to the fire.

Now it looked like he would have to take things into his own hands. He had learned all he could from Orochimaru before killing him and it now it appeared as if there was nothing left to gain from Akatsuki. He couldn't just leave the base, oh no. He would have to stay close to Madara before making his move, use the symbol of the cloaks as a safety net while he planned his own revenge. Killing Danzo would be easy; those ANBU were nothing but pests, easily swatted to the side, and Danzo himself was an old man.

Madara's single eye was fixed upon the carefully schooled face of his young descendant as he addressed Danzo, "Very well, I can see why you would seek us out for some sort of arrangement. We may indeed share a common enemy. Tell me, what can you tell us about Naruto-kun's movements at this moment?"

Danzo smiled grimly, "I know that the Hokage is trying to convince the Jinchuuriki to complete sage training at mount Myouboku, but the boy is reluctant to do so."

"Oh?" Madara sounded genially interested, "And why is that?"

"It appears that Naruto also has a daughter and he is most unwilling to leave her."

"...h-he _what?!_" Nearly all the previous anger had been wiped from Sasuke's face, only to be replaced with blank perplexity. Naruto...that witless idiot who couldn't even dress himself...he—he had a kid? He was only nineteen and he had a daughter?

There was an odd, sickly feeling that swept over Sasuke as he tried to word his next question, "Who—was Sakura—?"

Danzo already knew of who he was referring to and replied in the negative, "The mother was not a Konoha citizen. I believe she was a civilian from another country who died by Kisame's hand. This mission the boy had been on in the last few years was a cover for him to hide from Akatsuki while raising his daughter. I suppose he was aiming for a normal life for her...the sentimental fool."

"Ah, so that's what happened..." Madara muttered as the pieces started falling together again. It would certainly explain Naruto-kun's increased aggression towards his organization that was oddly pitted against a reluctance to encounter them. He had been protecting something after all.

Suigetsu snorted loudly and glanced at his reeling teammate, "Looks like that dickhead's going to beat you in reviving his clan."

Instead of scolding Suigetsu for his taunting words, Karin perked up.

"Oooh, Sasuke-kun, I can help with th—"

"Shut up!" Sasuke snapped. He was getting a headache from all the clashing information rattling his brain. First Danzo arrives to stir him up and then Naruto has a kid? It didn't make any sense to him; the memory of his bumbling, hopeless teammate would not be replaced with anything that would relate Naruto to an adult. 'Naruto' and 'father' were two words that should have nothing to do with one another...

'_This is fun,'_ Madara thought absently as he watched Sasuke's perfected façade of indifference fall apart. He hadn't seen the boy this boiled over since he first revealed the truth behind the Uchiha massacre. Though tempting as it was to grind his gears a bit more, Madara knew it was best not to push Sasuke too far. The child was undoubtedly unstable and could be quite irrational at times.

"Then it's obvious we should use the girl as leverage," Pein stated. Already a delicious array of schemes to torture the Jinchuuriki were playing out in his head. Oh the faces of pain that would bloom when he got his hands on that little girl!

"No. That would be very unwise."

"What? That's one big weakness looking us in the face!" Suigetsu shouted, slamming his hands on the table in front of him, "Why shouldn't we take advantage of it! We could probably get him to agree with anything!"

Madara took a moment to ponder why he even allowed Sasuke to keep his intellectually-deficient friends around.

"Because that would unleash a fury none of us, let alone you, are prepared for," Madara answered as though he were explaining the necessity of eating, "Pein, you merely threatened to harm his village and he decimated you and Konan. That miscalculation alone cost you your woman. To attack his daughter would be so immensely foolish it would suggest we have no survival instincts whatsoever. There is no doubt in my mind that Naruto-kun has the power to destroy us, even if he is unaware of it himself, and that girl is the only thing keeping him _away_ from us. Dealing with Naruto-kun has become an extremely delicate situation, one that requires more...skilled hands. So, no...we will leave his girl alone."

Pein sneered both at the reminder of his loss and the missed opportunity to assail the demon.

"There will be no more discussion of this," Madara stated before Pein could voice his displeasure any more, "Pein, take Danzo to his quarters. Suigetsu, Sasuke, Juugo, I'm sending the three of you north to recruit a missing-nin I've been hearing much about...the details of which you'll find in your chambers. I expect him here by the end of the month. Go."

The three boys left, Juugo silently, Suigetsu loudly, and Sasuke moodily. Danzo and his root agents followed Pein, who retained the same, temperamental walk he entered with.

"What about me?" Karin asked as she watched her teammates go.

"I'll need you here to monitor those root ANBU. After all, it would be imprudent to trust anyone from Konoha."

"But...Sasuke-kun's from Konoha!"

She would never see the slow, ironic smile that turned his scarred lips.

"I know."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Naruto thought he had figured out a pretty good plan on how to get through his sage training; one that appeased both Konoha and his instincts. It was a routine that came together rather nicely and Naruto found could fall into the system easily enough. It was victory all around.

So how could he have missed such an obvious snag?

The day had started out splendidly: he left in the morning, worked his butt off, returned in the evening to relive Kosuke (who swore he would never return if Naruto didn't get rid of the fisher cat) and made it just in time to enjoy the dinner Sakura had prepared for the three of them. Sakura's cooking skills were a bit subpar but he wasn't going to complain when his other option was sticking around to eat slugs and other slimy things with Fukasaku and Shima.

Sakura looked a bit worse for wear when he greeted her. It was obvious that keeping up with Hitomi was more stressful than she originally expected, not to mention finding out the little girl spent her free time swinging around in trees with a carnivorous, wild animal had practically given her gray hairs.

His daughter was settled in bed at the moment (her devious plans of getting the pink-lady to let her stay up late were dashed the moment her father returned), which left Naruto and Sakura standing awkwardly in his bedroom.

Hence his current dilemma: where was Sakura going to sleep?

This mission was labeled as "indiscriminant duration" and Sakura came with three weeks' worth of clothes. Obviously Konoha wasn't very far away and it wouldn't be too much of a hassle for her to return every night to sleep in a real bed, but he couldn't send her back on those days when training ran late. She didn't know when he was coming back and, while knowing that missions weren't expected to be altered to convenience a ninja, he didn't want to make things more difficult for her if he could help it.

There were two beds in the house—the master bed and Hitomi's—and it looked like he wouldn't be sleeping in one for as long as he was training at mount Myouboku.

"Well, here's where you'll be sleeping," he said, gesturing to the neatly made bed. He was thankful he had the foresight to tidy up the house before Sakura came. "I'll be downstairs if you need anything. I should wake up if Hitomi starts crying or something but she might wander in here if she has a bad dream. You can always take her downstairs to me or bring her back to bed. The bathroom is the next door over, as I'm sure you already know..."

His declaration trailed as he noticed Sakura shaking her head and smiling, "Stop it. You can stay in your bed; don't compromise it for my sake. I mean...you're the one who's training hard every day. You shouldn't be sleeping on a couch."

"I can't, in good conscience, let _you_ sleep the couch," Naruto countered, "You're the guest here."

As nice as it was to know that she was thinking of his wellbeing, he was rather bushed after being whacked around by Fukasaku's scepter for hours on end and didn't want to waste time arguing when he could be sleeping. He hardly registered Sakura grabbing a hold of his sleeve—a loose, clean shirt he had changed into after Sakura had refused to feed him until he showered. She gave a small tug to get him moving towards the bed.

"I'm not a guest—I'm a ninja on a mission. Besides...I wasn't suggesting that I sleep on the couch either."

It took a moment for Naruto to process what she just said, "Huh?"

Sakura chewed her lip—a lamentable attempt to bite back the blush waiting to surface. Her eyes kept flickering between the hand on his sleeve and the king-sized bed.

"Naruto, it's a big enough bed, I promise I don't mind," she said soothingly. She almost sounded...hopeful.

"Okay...what is going on with you?" he asked, taking a step away from both the bed and her. Her hand was dislodged from its hold on him.

Sakura looked more bewildered than rejected.

"W-what?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes in his misgivings, "You would never want to share a bed with me...you wouldn't even let me sleep near you back when we did missions together."

Her brow furrowed.

"Naruto...that was a long time ago, I grew up. I was just being a silly girl."

"Yeah but this...this...has nothing to do with growing up. It has to do with you—you—you're..."

He struggled to find the right word, wanting to avoid another disagreement between them as well as any physical violence on her part.

"I'm what?"

"You're not someone who would share a bed with just anybody."

"You're not anybody," she pointed out, "You're my teammate"

"No—we _were_ teammates before when you wanted your distance. We haven't been teammates in years."

Sakura's face flinched from the psychological blow.

"I...I never wanted distance from you Naruto—you had to have known that. I may not have made it obvious or anything but...but I liked having you around."

"I knew," he assured her, "...you were one of my best friends..."

"Were...?"

It seemed that no matter what Naruto did he couldn't communicate fittingly. He ran a hand through his hair.

"I'm sorry, I know how insensitive I must sound right now...I'm just trying to make you understand that it was so long ago—or it seems so, to me anyway. I'm—_we're_—different people now. Really, what do we know about each other? I have no idea what you've been up to these last couple years...and you don't know what I've been through—"

"What do you think I've been trying to do all this time?!" Sakura nearly wailed. Her eyes widened immediately after and she shot a frightened look at the closed door across the hall. Silence rung true for a few seconds as they waited for any sign of Hitomi stirring. None came.

"What do you think I've been trying to do?" she repeated in a much softer voice. She sounded defeated to his ears and Naruto was given the impression that he was somehow hurting her, "I _want_ to know what happened to you since you left. I've been trying to talk to you, to get close to you again, but you only seem to have time for me when it's absolutely necessary. I never wanted you to go in the first place! You left me, remember? _You_ didn't let me in, _you_ didn't tell me about Hitomi, _you_ didn't trust me to help you and you still don't! What do I have to do to prove myself to you? Why won't you let me in?"

She nearly started shouting again by the end of her desperate plea; her distress was palpable enough to pass on to Naruto.

"I-I'm sorry," he muttered, "I didn't realize...I had no idea that it'd matter that much to you. I'm just trying to keep things as...as uncomplicated as I can."

"Uncomplicated!" she hissed. Naruto prayed to God that the watery shimmer her eyes had just taken on was an affect of the room's lighting and nothing more. "Am I too complicated to be a part of your life? Is that it?"

Naruto scrunched his eyes.

"No! I have no problem with you being a part of my life but why are you suddenly so...so...ugh. You never wanted to be this involved before! I know we were close but you were always studying with Tsunade and I was always training and...and now you're going out of your way to be with me, you want to share a bed...I just—I just don't understand."

He was confused, she was confused, and they were arguing...again. Man, all this over where he would sleep? He could have gone to bed ten minutes ago if he didn't have to blow things out of proportion. But Sakura's sudden willingness to be so close to him had...well, it scared him. He didn't like feeling this mistrustful of her but he couldn't see any foundation for her forwardness and that had sent off the warning bells.

"Is it because of Hitomi?" he asked softly, "Is that why you've been so interested in my life all of a sudden?"

Sakura felt like she had been emotionally beaten around by his words that evening. It was bad enough when she found out he thought she was still interested in Sasuke—that she still harbored an obsession for the man. Now he was all but telling her that any concern she showed for him would warrant his suspicion, anything she instigated between them would be met with mistrust. How little was his faith in her?

"No," she responded immediately, "Well...yes and no. Naruto, the real reason I want to be with you—er, _here_, I mean—it's because I...I care about you. A lot."

She was putting herself out on the line, and maybe it was too soon, but it was clear that she would never get closer to Naruto without forcing herself on him.

Naruto turned his head from those pleading, pastel eyes and Sakura felt like she had been punched in the chest.

"I care too, Sakura," he said after a long moment of staring at one of the bedposts, "You know I care about you; I didn't intend to sound so mean about all that. But right now I can't...be with you."

"Is it because of the way I treated you when we were younger? Do you think I'd choose Sasuke over you or something?" she asked, sounding almost disbelieving. She was twelve! She knew she was a bit shallow and her motivations for being a kunoichi were a bit...lacking...but that was seven years ago! Then again, with what she had been hearing from Naruto as of late, maybe he did believe that.

The blonde snorted, "No, no. I don't even care about that. I just...I just don't want to do anything to upset Hitomi. You may not have realized it but I could tell being in Konoha was distressing for her. I spent more time away from her, there were more things that needed my attention and...I think she was feeling like she couldn't trust that I would be there for her. She's still young; it's bad enough I'm going to be spending so much time training...the last thing she wants is me paying attention to another woman."

Her confession was not as dramatic as the one she gave Sasuke, and Naruto's reasons were far more respectable, but once again she found herself rejected. She really shouldn't have been surprised; she had known Naruto wouldn't return any advances made on her part, no matter how subtle. He had been dropping hints over the last several days that he wasn't willing to compromise the relationship he had with Hitomi.

"Heh...looks like the roles have reversed," Sakura laughed softly to herself, but there was no humor in her tone. Deep down she knew she had just been forced to acknowledge that she had lost something, "Just tell me this...do you have any of the feelings you used to have for me? Even if it was just a silly little crush?"

"I don't know, Sakura," Naruto sighed and rubbed his forehead tiredly. Now he felt tired _and_ guilty, "I didn't want to think about it—I still don't want to. The last thing I need is to open up a can of worms by chasing after someone romantically. I'm sorry...I have enough on my plate. Maybe when Hitomi's older or maybe when the Akatsuki are through, but now..."

"I understand," how was it that Naruto could make her feel so immature? Here he was tying to give his daughter a normal life and she's moving onto him? All for the sake of feelings she wasn't sure she was even interpreting correctly? "She's really lucky to have you for a dad."

"Thanks. Look, I know I've been saying it all night but, I'm sorry. Just...please, let me enjoy this now. I'm pretty sure I only have a few more years of her wanting to be around me before she'll realize how uncool it is to hang out with her dad."

Despite her bruised pride Sakura let loose a little giggle.

"I don't know. I think you'll be garnering her friends' attention instead when that happens."

Naruto had a brief, horrifying insight of a teenaged Leela coming onto him in the years to come. Granted, the girl could hardly string two sentences together in front of him for being so shy, but it was a horrifying prospect nonetheless.

Without warning, Sakura grabbed a hold of his sleeve again and began to usher him towards the bed.

"Now, back to how this started, we are sharing the bed—there is nothing sexual about it Naruto!" she emphasized strongly before he could protest, "You are dead on your feet and you have training tomorrow and you need a good night's rest. Regardless of how you feel about me, next to Ino, you are still my best friend. No one understands team seven quite like we do. I want to start over."

Sakura pulled back the covers on one side and firmly pushed her unwilling captive on the mattress.

"This really isn't—"

"Go to sleep. We're both adults here, Naruto, and it's a big bed."

"Fine but—hey, what are you doing?"

She had pulled the covers up to his chin and had begun patting down around his chest.

"I'm tucking you in, what does it look like I'm doing?"

"...are you kidding me?"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Danzo stood in the sparse confinements of his new quarters, both hands resting on his staff as he sized up the two men in front of him. When he originally came to Pein he was under the impression that his plan to reform Konoha would come into fruition within a few months' time. But after meeting Madara—the most formidable man he had come across in a long while and the true leader of the Akatsuki—such a timeframe didn't seem all that reasonable. The plan to wait, recruit and adjust the Akatsuki's methods left Danzo merely surprised, disappointed and somewhat curious. But Pein...as well as Sasuke...they were far more frustrated with their leader's decisions.

"So...am I correct in assuming the pair of you are likely to take matters into your own hands?"

Sasuke, once again, did not reply. He looked quite waspish standing stiffly against the wall closest to the door, arms crossed and face stony. Pein gave the petulant child an annoyed look before explaining.

"Madara-sama has been acting odd as of late. He has taken a shining to that Jinchuuriki and his decisions are reflecting it."

More specifically, it was ever since the demon figured out how to use their rings that Madara had begun his odd sort of attachment. Defeating his bodies and killing Konan only seemed to fuel the admiration—which is what Pein hated more than anything.

"Perhaps you should listen to Madara-sama?" Danzo suggested, "He is old, yes, but he is wise. I'm sure he knows what he is doing. Perhaps a little faith may be in order from his subordinates?"

Pein merely sneered at the old fool for having the gall to talk down to him.

"And what do you propose? We follow Madara-sama's plan to simply recruit and allow the boy time to prepare? Do not speak of things you do not understand. You came here to become Hokage, which will never happen if you follow his pace. Konoha's destruction is inevitable. I however, will allow you the time to prepare a defense by saving the Leaf for last."

Danzo didn't think saying "thank you" would have been appropriate, so he settled for a grudging nod. He knew making a deal with the devil would have repercussions, he could only hope the benefits would outweigh them in the end.

"I can assure you that the boy won't be getting much stronger," Danzo supplied to settle the irate man, "I know for a fact that Naruto's body isn't likely able to hold any more power within it. According to Tsunade's research, his chakra coils are being stretched too much, there's too much chakra compacted in his body that could cause a backlash if pushed too far. That puts a huge limit on how much training he can accomplish and gives you an extension for whatever personal plans you have."

Pein gave the shorter man an appraising look before accepting the appreciated information with a nod. That particular impediment would certainly prove beneficial to them, he was sure.

"Now, you say you can get me the boy?"

"It will take quite a bit of...convincing," Danzo started out slowly, "but I believe I know just who has the power to deliver him. How long do you need?"

Pein glanced at the stoic Uchiha brooding against the wall.

"I am not so sure that Madara-sama is interested in the Kyuubi any longer. The original press for time was due to the brat absorbing the bijuu. Now I fear it would be too late at any rate. However, Madara did speculate that the boy could be treated as a demon himself. I am currently researching on methods of extracting the Jinchuuriki's chakra alone to seal into the statue. This gives you a few months to hold up your end of the bargain. We work on my schedule, do I make myself clear? In the mean time, we will appear to follow Madara-sama's plans."

"It's still too slow."

Both men turned to the third member of their party, who had pushed himself away from the shadows of the wall and stepped into the dim light.

"Naruto works fast," Sasuke continued, for once speaking directly to Danzo, "Waiting any longer could mean trouble for us."

"Works fast?" Danzo murmured. Sasuke spared him a dark look.

"Madara isn't going to start thinking of him as an enemy again. I know Naruto; he's got his claws in Madara already, whether he realizes it or not. Give it enough time and he could probably have our entire organization following him."

"An exaggeration," Pain stated, "But I've already discerned Madara as a lost cause; otherwise we wouldn't have to resort to our own tactics, as we are now. We shall speak of this further at another time. For now, Danzo, you will work on whatever connections you say you have to bring me the Jinchuuriki. And Sasuke, you have a mission to complete for Madara-sama, don't you?"

Sasuke's lip curled at Pein's dismissal and sneered as the man passed him.

"Oh," Pein paused at the door and threw a stiff look over his shoulder at Danzo, "Get me that weapon of his as well."

Neither Danzo nor Sasuke understood what that sentence meant, but they were sure they would find out soon enough.

Not trusting himself to be in the same room as the true murderer of his family, Sasuke made to leave as well, only to be halted by his name.

"Sasuke, I understand how difficult it must be to work alongside of me—"

"I'm not," Sasuke whirled around but stayed within the threshold of the doorframe, "You are working with Pein. I am simply using you as a stepping stone to get Naruto out of the way so that I can crush Konoha. I don't give a damn about whatever Pein promised you, I will raze Konoha to the ground regardless of who the Hokage is at the time. If it is you, then all the better."

"Oh Sasuke, you don't really want to do that. Your hatred is for me and my colleagues, not Konoha."

"Believe me, I do," Sasuke assured him, "One of my reasons for attacking Konoha is standing right in front of me. In fact, I may simply destroy Konoha just to spite you; we'll see how you take to having everything you care about taken from you in a single night."

Danzo allowed a grim smile to befall his lips, "So vindictive. Madara was right...you still don't understand."

Fed up with the old coot, Sasuke turned to leave again.

"What will you do once you kill me and the others?"

Sasuke stopped.

"What will you do after Konoha is gone?" Danzo continued his barb, "You clearly can't live without a hit list of some sort. You are, after all, an avenger.

Sasuke turned to face him once more, his expression unreadable. Smirking, Danzo persisted.

"Who would you label as your next target once you've killed off your current list? Let's not kid ourselves here; being a father isn't your strong suit, sitting around raising kids could never keep you satisfied. With or without knowing it, you have fallen into the same pattern that got your family killed in the first place. The desires of the demon who granted you that eye are manifesting. Greed, bloodlust, power..."

Sasuke opened his mouth to dispute the assumption that his motivations were demonic in nature but Danzo was quick to continue talking.

"As harsh as it was, Itachi's "motivation" to inspire you to thrive has made you the strongest you can possibly be. Don't let anyone tell you any differently. If you really want to keep the cycle going, you could always kill Naruto in front of his daughter. Test how strong her will to avenge is..."

Sasuke was walking away now, not wanting to hear another word from the silver tongue of that decrepit old bastard. His second dream was to restart his clan, it always had been and he did nothing to keep it a secret. It was something he felt he couldn't start until he killed everyone that was a threat to it. But what if Danzo was right? Would he continue to find a threat wherever he turned, simply because he was looking for one? Would he always be hunting for blood? And whenever he thought of restarting his clan it was simply increasing its number, not being a father per say. He had no intention of bonding with children; he just wanted the sharingan to flourish once again.

No matter. If Naruto already had his legacy in the making then far be it from him to hold back on his. He could never let Naruto beat him in anything.

Now...where was Karin?

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Air was rolling over Naruto's skin like the soft caresses of a phantom lover, comforting and invigorating all at once. The cool, pacifying sensation brought his mind and body into a further state of meditation as honed senses detected the manner in which the refreshing breeze cocooned over his body. It both protected and exposed him, revealing to him all the secrets of nature. It was like he was on hypersensitivity; it was fantastic—

"**Very good Naruto-chan!"**

Fukasaku's voice, while several yards away, sounded particularly loud in his ear as the wind which so entranced him carried the message brushing by his cheek.

Naruto resisted scrunching up his face. Sitting still was much, much harder than he originally gave it credit for. It was only in the last several minutes that he managed it...fifty feet in the air balancing on a stone spike with only a thin, square platform protecting his tush from an otherwise painful impalement.

Despite his best efforts to maintain control, Naruto's ears twitched back at the unintentional attack.

And down he fell.

"Uggmph!"

A dust cloud billowed up and around his body as he wearily pulled himself from the Naruto-shaped imprint in the ground.

Seconds later, Fukasaku's head popped into view, "Whoops!"

Naruto curled his lip at the obvious needling.

"You're lucky that didn't even—Hey! That didn't hurt!"

He shot the rest of the way into a seated position; his hands ran along his body checking for the any hint of tenderness. He found none.

"When you're in sage mode yer body is that much more resistant to outside attacks—it's "activated". Couple that with yer natural healing gift from the Kyuubi and you're near indestructible!"

"Oh yea?" Naruto grinned and flexed a muscle, newly amber eyes closing as he patted a bicep for show.

"Hmm," Fukasaku released the noncommittal noise while observing the young man before him. It was more than just the natural energy that empowered Naruto...never in all his years did the elder toad think he would encounter such a promising sage. It had been less than a week into the training and Naruto was already harnessing natural energy without the use of toad oil. Not only that, the black curls of sage chakra that surrounded the boy were far more uniform and dense than Fukasaku had seen with any other sage; there was no doubt in his mind that sitting just before him was the prophesized child.

"However, you're still too easily distracted by ya surroundin's," the toad lightly admonished, "Someone speaking in the vicinity shouldn't startle ya out of yer meditation like that."

The blonde rubbed the back of his head in true bashful fashion.

"Actually, that was my own fault. You see...I could sense nature easily enough, but I think my affinity to wind keeps...I dunno how to explain it...but it's like I keep getting pulled into the wind. Uh...does that make any sense?"

"I suppose so," Fukasaku said slowly as he mulled over the new information. Getting carried away with one specific element wasn't unheard of, but it could also be offsetting to the balance of sage mode if a sage were to pay attention to one element over the others.

"I suggest you work on sorting through that," the toad offered after a brief moment of reflection. "Elementals haven't been seen in decades...maybe even centuries. It would be interestin' ta see how far you can connect yourself ta wind; perhaps you may even become a true wind master. But in the mean time, it would be best if ya focused on the task at hand and held off the urges to explore whatever influences the wind throws at you."

Naruto nodded with complete agreement, "Yeah, I do have quite a few asses to kick before I can get into any hobbies."

Fukasaku smiled. Leave it to Naruto to view the revival of an ancient practice as a "hobby".

"How about we call it a day," he proposed, "It's clear that you have mastered gatherin' sage chakra."

The humanoid shrugged and stood up, "All right by me. What comes next?"

Fukasaku sported a gummy smile.

"Tomorrow, I'm goin' ta show you how ta use sage mode in battle."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

OH EM GEE!!!! My poor laptop is DED T_T

I'm sure those of you who followed Troika were aware of the last time my laptop died (right before my first and only lemon -_-). Yeah...I was not willing to pump out another couple grand to retrieve data again. Especially not after Paris. So, all in all, my laptop died and the update was delayed a whole _week and a half!_

Solution: I am getting a macbook! And its aluminum and recyclable! Go green! XD

The Akatsuki is not run by idiots; they are not going to kidnap Hitomi. To all those people who predicted they would—Sorry, but it's quite an illogical notion if you think about it. And speaking of Akatsuki...why do I always put them at a table of sorts? It's like they're the Knights of the Round Table. And Madara is King Arthur...such a noble fellow XP

Please thank **strider714** for editing this monster as well as **MegaB** who has the sharpest eyes I've ever heard of and has been pointing out errors in the last few chapters.

_Thank you all_ for your support, silent or not. Oooo! But I am SO CLOSE to beating TP in reviews! This fic is almost my most reviewed story so...feel free to help kick that ridiculous triple x-over's ass :3

**Next chap**: a small insight into the method behind Madara's madness and some highlights on the Uzumaki demonic abilities.


	20. The Impasse

**Chapter 20**

"What are you doing?" Naruto's tired voice echoed within the dank cavern of his seal.

"What are you doing?" The Kyuubi replied in turn. He sounded rasp, with a tone to match his gray and haggard appearance. It was a mass of grey fur, but the destruction of the beast had been slowed immeasurably by Moegi's fix of the seal.

"I am trying to be the best I can be, just like you taught me."

It was a low blow, taunting the poor demon on its death bed by throwing its words back in its face, but Naruto was frustrated. He was mere inches away from completing his sage training when suddenly all progress was halted by the cement roadblock known as his tenant.

"**Insolent mongrel," the beast sneered, but there was no effort to knock against the cage this time around, "If you think that I will comply with your lowly practices then you are gravely mistaken."**

Something told Naruto that he was fighting a losing battle. However, he had to try.

"Look, I can't use sage mode effectively in battle without Fukasaku attached to me. So just...move over a bit," the blonde man commanded in a voice he hoped was both authoritative and encouraging.

Laughably, Kyuubi's growl sounded more like a low purr.

"**And you presume I care?**" he boomed with mild incredulity, "**Your**** body is as much mine as it is yours and I will not accommodate a common summon toad in this already limited space. Furthermore, I will have nothing to do with this bastardization of natural energy—tch, honestly, using it for combat...out of the entire human race, ninjas are, by far, the lowest of their breed.**"

Naruto could already feel the headache coming on; he was in for another harangue about why humans deserve to be on the bottom of the divine food chain.

"And why is that?" he asked, if only to humor the demon, "I would have thought you at least respected ninja for their power. Isn't that what you demons value?"

"**Ha!**" It was the first time in a long time that Naruto saw some spark back in the fading demon's countenance. "**Respect those dastardly thieves? Perhaps if they showed some semblance of honor. Instead they take the ancient and noble art of combat and debauch it with underhanded foolery. Attacking one from behind...the larceny...it's disgraceful**."

"I know, I know," Naruto mumbled. His own distaste for the ninja arts began to show in his everyday constitution. Against his shinobi upbringing, ancient and ingrained demonic practices had begun to manifest themselves into his persona—an instinct that festered and grew until he could no longer ignore it. In the case of nature versus nurture...nature was winning out.

When it came to the matter of battle, he found himself wanting to face his opponents, to lay out his intentions before wiping the floor with them. He felt a need to be upfront with his objectives, for a fight to be fair, because if he won it any other way it would say nothing about his prowess other than that he had to rely on cheap tricks to win a battle. That impulse for principle should have been squashed in the academy.

Maybe that had been why he couldn't bring himself to change his name. There had been a small inkling in the back of his mind screaming _'What? Hiding from humans?_'. Maybe that was why he wanted to create his own execution of power, rather than memorizing ninjutsu off of scrolls that others had created. For a human it made no sense; survival was survival, especially in the ninja world. But for a demon, it was how you survived that mattered.

Nevertheless, sage mode was addicting, and, despite all misgivings, Naruto wanted to feel that connection with nature again. He wanted to see what he could do with it on the battlefield.

"Please?" he tried. Much to his shock he realized that he had never thought to ask the demon politely. He wondered why that was...

Was he just as bigoted for encountering a demon and expecting courtesy not to get him anywhere?

"**I will tear the pout right off your unsightly face, you doltish ninny, if you think meaningless, human formalities will change my mind.**"

Ah, yes, that was why.

"Okay, first of all, my face is beautiful," Naruto returned in his defense, "and secondly...er, please—?"

"**GET OUT!**"

Naruto's body was sighing before his mind fully returned to the physical world. He opened his eyes to the not-so-pleasant sight of Fukasaku's lumpy fly trap.

"Well?"

"It's a no-go," he told Fukasaku, "He's very selfish. No sharing."

The toad hopped off of Naruto's lap, a deep frown on his face.

"Then I don't know what ta tell ya, Naruto-chan. There's no other way ta do it. Ya can't gather sage chakra while in motion, and once ya run out in a battle yer finished. The battle won't stop just so ya can reboot, ya know."

Naruto pushed himself to his feet. Despite being in the home of a pair of bantam toads, the ceilings were elevated enough to accommodate his height.

"Well, at least it opened up a window to that elemental-thingy you mentioned," he offered, trying to stay optimistic. He was disappointed that all his training was stopped so abruptly, but he couldn't find fault with Kyuubi's decision. It was daft to ask a demon to go out of its way for human practices in the first place.

"Elementals are hardly used fer combat," the elder toad reproached to Naruto's comment, "They are communicators with nature; peaceful. What ya need is a way ta defeat the Akatsuki. This power would have greatly benefitted ya."

"Cheer up boys, I'm making grub tonight!" Shima called from the room over. Fukasaku brightened a little at the mention of dinner. Naruto dry heaved.

"Er...and you don't know of any other way to collect it?" the man suddenly wanted to find something to work on, if just for an excuse to skip a meal.

Fukasaku was shaking his head, "I've told ya, I don't know of any other way. It's always been the sage battlin' and a toad gatherin' and channelin' chakra."

"So...so I just find another way to gather the chakra and then send it to me when I run out...right?"

The elder toad was feeling particularly grumpy at that moment. So much potential...and it just had to be in the kid with the demon.

"And how do ya propose ya do that, boy?" the toad grouched, "Yer gunna be fightin, so ya can't gather it yourself—and where would ya find a connection that's unattached to ya...yet still attached to ya? It's impossible..."

Naruto didn't respond. He was staring at Fukasaku as if he had just announced Ichiraku was opening a stand on Mount Myouboku.

"...What?"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Madara strolled beneath the canopies of his base's surrounding forest, his pace leisurely, yet his mind animated. Headquarters had been rather quiet as of late; the boys were still out hunting for his target recruit, so there was no Suigetsu around to loudly complain about how cold it was and no Sasuke around to nag him about attacking Konoha. Sightings of Karin had been sparse: without her crush to flirt with or Suigetsu to fight with, she had taken to spending ample time in her room—no doubt relishing in whatever fumbling experience Sasuke gave her before his departure.

Pein had returned to his semaphore body, where his breakdown of the sealing statue was likely being conducted, and Danzo had gone to meet some contacts for negotiations in getting his capture plan underway. Most of his Root agents had tagged along for his protection, but a few still lingered around the base.

All in all, it was a bit lonely. The lack of communication—even if it were just watching others interact—had left Madara to his thoughts. He began to reevaluate what had become of the Akatsuki since its foundation.

The main groundwork was still aiming for world domination—to collect the bijuu for the power and then manipulate the economy by taking missions for lower prices. They would start and stop wars, control the flow of money all around the world and soon would find no resistance to their rule.

Nagato bought into it immediately—another broken young man whose ideals had been skewed by the cold, harsh world he lived in—and wanted to bring peace to humankind in a most...ironic fashion. Madara gladly gave the unique boy the means to spread his "peace"; it took the focus off of his own movements. It wasn't long before Nagato was replaced by 'Pein' and Konan started showing up. The woman made a show of supporting Nagato in all his efforts, but Madara could see that she truly aimed to quell his troubled heart and ease him away from such destructive aspirations.

It was a pity she died without making any progress on that front.

One by one, more and more powerful ninjas came into their organization. When he came upon Orochimaru, Madara was delighted; here was an opportunity to get his foot back into Konoha after the Kyuubi debacle. But Orochimaru defected, lost to his own delusions and ambitions, and ultimately became nothing more than an annoying splinter. Then Uchiha Itachi came along.

Madara liked Itachi. Itachi was loyal to Konoha and chose the village over his own family, true enough, but he made the decision after knowing all the facts. He saw through the bullshit that ninja villages showered on both civilian and ninja alike; Itachi knew that tipping his loyalty to one side over the other would never sit well with his conscience, so he chose the option with the least collateral damage. For having that foresight, and choosing in favor of the "greater good", Madara revered his young descendent.

Of course, he knew Itachi only stuck around as long as he did to impede his progress and eventually find a way to destroy him. Looking back, Madara reckoned he should have reassigned Itachi to a less crucial demon; perhaps then they would have already had Kyuubi. But at the time he was very interested in how far the boy would go to protect what he loved. Planning his own death at the hands of his brother would be considered respectably far.

Nevertheless, all that was over and done with. Now Madara was able to see his initial plan steered so much simpler when he first started...

Not that there was anything simple about taking over the world; on the contrary, it's a thankless and dirty job, not meant to be pursued by the faint of heart.

Madara cocked his head to the side. Thankless...? Who would thank them in the first place?

Shaking the idiosyncrasies from his mind, he acknowledged that slipping the bijuu into Akatsuki's possession was easier when there was no human opposition to add to their battles. But over the last several years their organization, as well as its veneer objectives, became known to the world. Renowned jounin and hunter-nin were actively pursuing them by order of their Kages. People recognized their faces as well as their cloaks; they could no longer wander through towns ignored. These days they stuck close together—staying in the same general area and meeting almost weekly. This played a contributing factor to their slow progress.

The lack of capable members was a second factor. Gone were their experienced ninja, gone were the connections that each ninja came with. Against all the progress they made in capturing seven and a half demons, their movements were increasingly impeded.

This was why he allowed Danzo into their plans with so little query. The man claimed he could bring them Naruto in a more discreet manner that didn't warrant a full on attack; that there was a way to slide Naruto into their hands without alerting Konoha at the time. Danzo insisted that it was a delicate matter and couldn't be rushed. There were certain minds he had to mold, certain perspectives to warp into seeing things his way or it would all be for naught.

Of course, Danzo had his own agenda for Konoha that probably didn't coincide with Madara's plan for its imminent destruction, but if such a method existed that would dissuade Naruto from fighting back then he would allow the old militant his chance to prove himself.

It was this slow pace was what had begun to stir up tension.

Sasuke was restless. Madara had hoped the events surrounding the damaged boy's childhood would play out in his favor, leave him a little more loyal, a little more mindless, but instead Sasuke had latched onto the ruthless need to hunt rather than human companionship. The thrill of pursuit, the puzzles and blood and rush of power...it all ended with the catch. There was nothing left once you seized your prey, as the boy learned with Itachi, so finding a new one was in order. Apparently Konoha fit the bill, and Sasuke's obsession with taking it down had grown little by little, much as his aggression for hunting his brother had. It wouldn't be long before a catalyst would spur him into action.

Karin merely stayed for Sasuke, unlike Suigetsu, whose loyalty to Sasuke had waned and now only followed Akatsuki for the opportunity to kill Naruto.

And Juugo...

Madara paused in his walk to watch an overhead spider cocoon its meal into its web.

Juugo was quiet, he did what he was told, and could hold his own in a fight if needed to. He showed neither aggravation to their pace nor any inclination to go it alone and yet...Madara felt there was a deeper motive for the docile man being there. It was his quiet compliance that made him stand out amongst the others.

His meander resumed. No matter. Surely, all would unfold in due time.

What he was really interested in these days was Naruto.

He had grown rather fond of the Jinchuuriki. What started out as nothing more than a target, a measly thorn in his side, had eventually developed into an admiration of sorts. He watched Naruto overcome one obstacle over another, leaving Madara a clearer view of the kindred spirit they shared. The boy put family before all else, even his village, and he was defeated by his best friend at the Valley of the End. He was unappreciated by his village until he showed them his power. Then he was feared by them.

Naruto's father, on the other hand, was an annoyance like he'd never met before. Arrogant, talented, loved. Namikaze Minato deluded himself into thinking that he was on par with Madara—a timeless being with decades more experience and intelligence. Watching Minato fail to surmount his own cunning brought Madara a bit of joy in his jaded life. It wasn't until the young upstart thwarted his initial plan to destroy Konoha by using the Kyuubi that he grudgingly acknowledged the blonde's power.

It was probably the only thing Minato had ever bested him in.

When he first heard of Naruto as the container for the Kyuubi he felt predisposed to hate the child. Here was the product of his failure, the child of an enemy who got the last laugh. He presumed Naruto would go one of two ways: a village savior or a village pariah. Neither were very impressive roles to fill, in his opinion.

Yet, against all expectations, Naruto was an underdog. Jinchuuriki were expected to lead difficult lives; encumbered by hardships, but still having immense power. This combination left many bitter and volatile, often lashing out at the slightest provocation, if not seeking out a full-on fight. But not Naruto. Despite the unfair hand that was dealt to him, Naruto was above such pettiness—he proved himself better than most humans time and time again. He didn't use the power that was given to him to make his life any easier; he was stubborn, determined to prove himself with his own steam. He chose the hard way even when he didn't have to, simply because he could. He made life interesting.

That was why, every time Naruto experienced a victory, even if it was at the expense of Madara's own plans, he felt proud of the boy. It was as though Naruto was his own child.

Neither he, nor Naruto, for that matter, expected that the Sage-to-be would try and outsmart him—not as the boy's father was so oft to attempt before. It simply wasn't plausible. No...Naruto was going overpower him. They both knew it. It was how Naruto had survived this long, how he overcame obstacles that even his father would have failed at.

He blew through them before a plan could take effect.

So crude. So endearing.

It was for this reason that he didn't want to provoke Naruto into fighting, because, when someone had enough power, even all the cunning in the world can't defeat them.

It was most unfortunate that the other, younger members of his organization were too near sighted to see this. They only had their own selfish goals in their sight, never realizing that such arrogance would put their dreams in danger.

If Madara calculated correctly, he still had quite some time for the sheep to follow his rule. They may not be happy with their decision to get tangled in his web, they may find themselves looking back and thinking of the other options they could have chosen, but, despite recent events, there had been no change of heart in his company, no growth in character, so there would be no motion to take control of their lives once again. They had surrendered such control when they gave their will to him, and he planned on milking each agent for all his worth before letting them go.

As of now, he needed Pein to figure out a way on how to modify the statue for their latest proposal. It was initially designed to handle demonic chakra only, but Naruto was too far gone with the merging for the Kyuubi to be available to them, so accommodations were in order.

Heh—make that two things that Minato bested him in.

Madara needed the essence of the bijuu—the demonic origin of his bloodline—to restore the power of his Mangekyo Sharingan. That was his goal; the rest of those turkeys were simply a means to an end. As he was now, he would never be able to end what he started.

No matter the time it took (an immortal had no hurry, after all) he would wash his sins from this world. It was his only option left.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Sakura stood outside the preschool building that Hitomi attended, waiting for the children to be let out. Unlike Naruto's habit of showing up a little late, Sakura always made sure to be present at the door as soon as Hitomi walked out. Her attendance in the place of Naruto's was explained with the simplest version of truth: that Naruto had to commence special training and that she was taking care of Hitomi in the mean time. Unfortunately, civilian women didn't appear to have enough drama in their lives, because the mothers that she waited with would dig deeper and deeper into the new mystery that was Naruto. Just yesterday she was interrogated on what kind of training he was doing, which revealed more details of his ninja career. Granted, Naruto had given her permission to tell the truth to everyone, but both she and Juhi tried not to say more than they needed. It was Naruto's story to tell, not theirs.

Today was going to be no different from any other weekday, it seemed.

"So tell us, who are you really to Naruto-kun?" Chinen Futoru, a short, plump mother of twins asked. Satou Kotone and Kim Yuriko were present as well. Both had dark hair, both were stay at home moms.

"Yes," Yuriko piped up, while smoothing her skirt, "you say that you're simply watching his child, but why you? Is the story about Hitomi's mother dying a lie as well...or are you her?"

Sakura closed her eyes and had to remind herself that these women had no malicious intentions, they simply lacked tact.

"No," she responded stiffly back, "Everything about Hitomi and her mother are true. Naruto only posed as a civilian to keep her safe. I'm an old teammate of his."

A gleam shined in Kotone's eyes at her answer, "Why was she in danger in the first place? I thought he killed whoever attacked his fiancé?"

The other mothers leaned in, no doubt looking for a juicy piece of gossip. Had Naruto been there, it would have been him who the fellow parents would be grilling. As it were, Naruto had only been seen a handful of times at the Inn's bar over the last few weeks, so Sakura and Juhi had been the targets instead.

"That's classified information," Sakura said, keeping her tone even. She idly wondered if this was who she once aspired to be when she was younger. Back in the academy, she planned on only being a ninja until Sasuke wanted to settle down and have kids. Then what? She would spend her afternoons needling people with lives about what went on beyond the walls of their village?

She suppressed a shudder; training under Tsunade and having those delusions brutally knocked out of her was probably the best thing that ever happened to her.

Perhaps Sakura's irritability was perceivable to the three hens, because Futoru suddenly changed the topic.

"Did either of you hear about the accident that happened this morning at the construction site? I heard a cable snapped over..."

Noise erupted from the building ahead and suddenly the doors were pushed open by the sea of children. Three to five year olds rushed out into the sunlight, leaping upon their parents the second they were spotted. Sakura could hear children begging to have their friend come over for the day, excited chatter about a picture that was drawn, and crying over some accident or another.

Hitomi was among the crowd, chatting animatedly to frail-looking child—Leela, if Sakura remembered correctly.

"Hi Hitomi-chan!" Sakura greeted her.

The toddler saw Sakura waving and bid her friend goodbye. She had mixed feelings about the not-so-new arrangement she had been a part of for the last few weeks. On one hand, she was only going to see her daddy a couple of hours every day; sometimes he would come back early and they would go visit Juhi-baachan or the park, and sometimes he would come back after she had gone to bed. On the other hand, she had a golden opportunity to get away with murder with the clueless woman taking care of her. She didn't pay Sakura much mind throughout the day. The lady was nice and she had very pretty hair, but even a toddler like herself could recognize that she was more interested in her daddy's attention than anything else.

"Hey, did you have fun at school today?" Sakura asked as Hitomi got near. She held out a hand and Hitomi grasped it as they began their walk back home.

"Che-ya! I made-ed a dream catchuh!" She lifted a mass of popsicle sticks and string to show the kunoichi. Sakura smiled and gently took the craft.

"This is very pretty Hitomi-chan. Are you going to give it to your daddy?"

"Yuss!" she chirped. The little blonde paused as a thoughtful expression passed her face, "Whuts a nind-juh?"

It took a moment for Sakura to comprehend what she was asking—and not because of the speech pattern.

"A...what's a ninja?" she repeated, "You don't know what a ninja is?"

Hitomi shook her head. "Kuro-ro says that daddy is a nind-juh, but I says nuh-huh because I don't know whut a nind-ja is."

"You don't..." Sakura started, trying to figure out if Naruto really didn't explain to Hitomi about ninja. "A ninja is someone who fights to protect what's important to them. Don't you watch your daddy train? He's training as a ninja."

"Oooooh," Hitomi said for show, but really she had no idea what the woman was talking about. Her daddy trained with wind and sticks. He trained as a part of the forest, not a...nind-juh. That and she already hit Kuro-ro for saying so; she can't take it back now.

Sakura shook her head, "I can't believe he never told you...did you know that Konoha was a ninja village? And that your daddy wanted to take over it some day?"

Hitomi started to shake her head. At first Sakura assumed that it was a non-verbal reply to her question, but Hitomi was staring off to somewhere across the street and her grip on Sakura's hand had become almost painfully tight. Suddenly, the girl squealed and pushed her face into Sakura's leg.

"H-hitomi-chan? What's wrong?" Sakura asked. She reached down to pull her into her arms, not noticing the goose bumps that had broken over her skin or how the fine hairs of her arm rose. "Hitomi? Did you see something?"

Sakura's eyes scanned the surrounding area looking for any potential threats. They had made it a far enough distance from the playground to no longer hear the raucous children. A handful of people roamed about in the surrounding area, quite a few of them sending the distraught girl concerned looks, but none were the least bit aggressive. Even her skills as a Jounin couldn't detect any nearby chakra signatures, so she knew there wasn't an enemy ninja lurking around.

"Come on," she said gently as she stood, taking Hitomi up to her hip in the process, "let's get you home. Maybe you'll feel better?"

Maybe she was sick? That could be it...

"Nooo...nooo," the toddler wept, though Sakura doubted it had anything to do with being picked up.

Hitomi had begun to openly cry into Sakura's shoulder as they walked. Occasionally Sakura would hear the popsicle sticks of her dream catcher crack from the hard grip, but other than that, Hitomi did nothing but whimper and shake.

Finally, Naruto's modest home came into view.

"We're here," Sakura announced while she opened the door with her free hand. She had become increasingly concerned as Hitomi's grip on her neck became tighter and tighter, "Do you want a nap? Maybe you're tired?"

"I want daddy!" she pulled her head away from Sakura's shirt to cry before diving back in. Sakura sighed and began to lower Hitomi to the couch when the girl freaked out.

"NO!" Hitomi howled, scrambling to stay in Sakura's arms, "I want daddy! Go away...go away..."

She moaned in a mantra through her tears, but her arms clung tight around Sakura's neck, shaking the idea that Hitomi was talking to her.

For nearly two hours this went on. Hitomi refused to let go of Sakura, just as she refused to open her eyes. The crying died down but the trembling remained. Something had terrified the child—that much was obvious. It was with bated breath that Sakura waited for Hitomi's father to come home.

As if to answer her prayers, Naruto returned a few hours early that day.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried upon his arrival. The trepidation and relief in Sakura's voice immediately put him on edge.

"What?" he asked, his own panic rising, "Did something happen to Hitomi?"

The house was cold; it was the first thing he noticed immediately upon entering. Sure, it was November, but even the air outside was warmer than this. The second thing he noticed was his daughter's tormented temperament.

"What happened?" he asked in a tight voice as Hitomi was transferred into his arms. The tiny girl, once catching the sent of her father, latched onto him like a parasite. The tears renewed.

"I don't know!" Sakura was nearly in tears herself at this point. Watching a child shriek in terror tends to do that to someone, "She just started freaking out when we were on our way back from her school! I don't know what set her off! She's been like this for hours and I didn't know what to do...!"

The last thing Naruto needed was two distraught females on his hands.

"Sakura, its okay, breathe. I got this. Why don't you go make some tea?"

Sakura nodded hesitantly, rubbing her arms as she headed towards the kitchen. Once the door shut behind her, Naruto turned to the space next to him.

The third thing he noticed, as he stepped through the threshold of his own home, was that they had uninvited company.

Takahori Shoichi was a man he—or rather, Nokku—used to work with in the lumber fields. They would to eat lunch together; that was how he learned that Shoichi had a wife and three older kids. Now he stood in Naruto's living room, his hollow eyes fixated on Hitomi.

"She can't help you," Naruto said in a strong, clear voice. The man's gaze slowly moved to Naruto, as though trying to figure out if he knew him or not. It wasn't likely that he would remember any time soon—it usually took a while before the memories of the past life would catch up to him. This death was recent and Shoichi was confused. He didn't see whatever killed him, so he had no reason to know he was dead yet.

"Go back to your family," but as he said it, Naruto realized that Shoichi probably couldn't even see his family. He had followed Hitomi because he could see her, just as she could see him, and Shoichi was looking just as scared as she was.

This was why Naruto hated ghosts—still hated them really. He could see them as a child. They would stare at him...follow him...try to latch onto the nearest anchor of their recently departed world. It was traumatizing for someone who had no one to cry to. After he joined the academy and spent more time around the living, he saw less and less of them. Maybe he had blocked the ability as he grew, kind of like what he did with seeing auras. But knew that wasn't entirely accurate. Even to this day he couldn't stand being in graveyards for too long. Even when the sun was at its highest and he was with other people he could feel the cold chill of the dead, their sorrow and confusion amplified around their resting places.

"Go back to work, to the fields," he tried this time, "Just go back there and figure it out. Please..."

Naruto learned early on that telling someone they're dead would get them nowhere. It was something they had to figure out on their own.

Shoichi stared at the two-unit family a while longer, still looking as though he were searching for something in Naruto's face, before finally turning to walk out the door. Cradling Hitomi's head securely to his chest, Naruto was able to see the large, bloody chunk of skull missing from Shoichi's head just before the lost soul exited their house as any other person would have. Had Sakura been in the room she would have seen the front door open and close on its own.

"Hey," he said softly to the spent child in his arms, he nudged her a bit with his chin, "Are you okay, baby?"

She shook her head vigorously, refusing to remove it from the collar of his shirt, and the tears began to flow faster.

"I was—guh—shh-so scared!" she blubbered. She sniffled and a combination of snot and spit was wiped onto his shirt in her grief. He didn't pay any mind to it.

"Shhh, I know," he soothed her, "but he's gone now. He wasn't going to hurt you..."

He bounced her a little like he used to do when she was an infant and began the short trek up the stairs and into her room. When he sat down on her bed her hysteria pitched.

"Don't go!" She whimpered, her claws leaving pinpricks on the back of his neck.

"I'm not going anywhere," he assured her tenderly. He rubbed her back and pet her hair for a while, murmuring how she was safe now and that the man wasn't coming back, until the tension began to lift from her body. By the time he started humming she had loosened her hold enough to be repositioned in a cradle across his lap.

"Will you sing to me, daddy?" she asked sleepily. Her ear was pressed against his chest, where the warmth and steady thump of his heart had lulled her into comfort. Naruto kissed the top of her head and whispered "sure". The song he had been humming soon received low, broken lyrics.

"And tell me...that we belong together...dress it up with the trappings of love... I'll be captivated...I'll hang from your lips..." He coughed a little; it had been a while since he last sang to her. But if it gave her comfort then he would do it. "Instead of the gallows...of heartache that hang from above..."

Hitomi released a heavy sigh. Her eyelids slipped shut as the familiar tone warmed the chills that once wracked her miniature frame.

Naruto couldn't help but smile at the picturesque innocence his daughter exhibited at that moment.

"I'll be...your crying shoulder...I'll be...love suicide...and I'll be...better when I'm older...I'll be...the greatest fan of your life..."

So fixated he was on his daughter, that he hardly noticed Sakura's approach until she was standing in the doorway, a cup of tea steaming in each hand. A small yelp escaped his throat when he caught sight of her.

"S-Sakura..." a reddish hue won over his self-composure, giving away his embarrassment at being caught singing. He knew he didn't have a favorable singing voice; even when speaking his tone was coarse, gravelly to his own ears, rough. Perhaps it was due to harboring a demon, or maybe it was just genetics.

"Oh sorry, Naruto," she whispered, taking note of the sleeping toddler in his arms. The tiny girl was curled into the crook of her father's left arm, her hand latched onto his shirt subconsciously, the other having its thumb sucked.

"Heh, I can't believe she's still doing that," he said as he gently pulled the thumb out of her mouth. Expertly, he managed to dislodge Hitomi from his shirt and settle her into bed. A stuffed squirrel that looked as though it had its ears bit off was placed by her head on the pillow, and was soon pulled under the covers with her.

Sakura stayed near the perimeter of the room as she watched Naruto tuck Hitomi in. His face was still a bit pink as he motioned for her to exit so he could close the door, still leaving a crack open so they could hear her.

The pair walked down the stairs and back into the living room, where Sakura handed Naruto the tea she had made him.

"Thanks," he mumbled, sipping the hot beverage. Thankfully, Sakura's tea making skills were much better than her cooking ones, and far surpassed his own.

"So what happened?" she asked once he seated himself on the couch. She planted herself next to him, curling one foot under thigh.

Naruto stared at the rim of his mug thoughtfully before answering, "Its...it's a demon thing, I suppose."

Maybe he should see the Kyuubi about this. He had never questioned it before, but if it was happening to Hitomi...

"A demon thing? Can you try to explain it?"

"I don't think I can," he murmured. His lack of attention to her was both concerning and annoying, "Not without you thinking I'm crazy."

"Try me."

Naruto spared her a look.

"Let me talk to Kyuubi first," he was already putting his mug on the coffee table.

Sakura looked bewildered, "What? Right now?"

"It will only take a second, just sit tight."

He crossed his legs on the couch. He was learning how to meditate in different positions, but he wanted to make this fast so he chose the most familiar pose.

"Wait—Naruto—"

The rest of Sakura's voice was drowned out as he pulled his conscious mind into the seal.

"How ya doing, old man?" he greeted in a more pleasant fashion than he usually did. A rank gust of air threw his hair back as the great beast snorted.

**"This is the second time you've come here in a week. Why must you torture me so?"**

"A ghost followed Hitomi home today," Naruto stated, jumping right to the point, "She can see troubled spirits, just like I can. Does this have something to do with being a demon? Or is this some hereditary freakish ability?"

Better yet: was there a difference?

"**My presence gives you an avenue to both worlds. Our offspring has the same nature.**"

Naruto shuddered, "When you say '_our_ offspring' you make it sound like we had her together...so please don't."

Kyuubi ignored his request and continued speaking. It wasn't until later that night that Naruto would realize that the Kyuubi gave him less grief about answering his questions. He most likely lacked the energy to.

"**As spiritual beings, demons often guide the departed from one life to the next. The youki that you and the child exude will make you shine in the darkness of purgatory.**"

Naruto studied demonology during his time in Bassai; he wanted to understand just what he and his daughter were. As it turned out, demons weren't excluded to malice and evil. They started out as neutral, some even becoming protective deities. It was the ones that fed off of human negativity that would grow powerful in a more...noticeable manner. It was they who built the wicked reputation associated to all demons. Kyuubi could be accounted as one of them.

"We're not going to have a bunch of ghosts following us around are we?" Naruto asked anxiously. Hitomi certainly hadn't reacted favorably to the ordeal and he doubted his view on the dead would change any time soon.

"**I should think not. There are others who would take on that responsibility. I'd imagine that the youngling was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Children tend to have more of a pull on the otherworld than adults do. Their minds are less clouded; they are more susceptible to what is beyond the dimensions of space.**"

"Alright," Naruto sighed, "so it _is_ a demon thing. Hurrah. Thanks, I guess."

"**What have I told you about those meaningless formalities?!**"

Naruto yanked himself out of the seal before Kyuubi's spittle showered him. Even if it wouldn't actually soak his body, it was still gross.

"...Are you back?" Sakura asked tentatively as Naruto opened his eyes. He blinked a few times before focusing in on her.

"Er, yeah, yeah I'm back. Why? Was that weird?" he never thought about how it would look from someone else's perspective.

"A little. You looked like you might have fallen asleep there for a minute," she said with a light smile. Naruto reached for his mug, pleased to see it was still quite warm.

"So now can you tell me what happened?" Sakura asked. Naruto swallowed the sip he had just taken and nodded.

"Someone died earlier today, didn't they?"

She wasn't expecting to have her question answered with a question.

"What do you mean? How should I know?"

"At the lumber field I worked at—er, well Nokku, my clone, did—there was a man who I knew. He was killed in an accident. It looked like something hit him hard from behind or above," Naruto explained. Bassai was a small village; news of an accident like this would have spread rather quickly.

Sakura was shaking her head slowly, "Naruto, I don't know what you're talking—"

She cut herself off as the details of Futoru's chitchat came back to her.

"Wait...some of the mothers at the preschool...I think one of them mentioned an accident with a cable or something at a construction site...but...but what does that have to do with what happened to Hitomi?"

"That makes sense," Naruto mused, ignoring her query for the moment, "Sometimes we would make deliveries to them. To answer your question, Shoichi followed Hitomi back here because he could see her. That's what had her so spooked."

Sakura had her face scrunched up as she tried to piece together the disorganized information.

"He could see her? Wait...you can't mean...are you saying this Shoichi was the man who was killed?"

Naruto hummed and took another sip of his tea. Sakura thought he looked far too calm for someone who just claimed his daughter was being followed around by a dead guy.

"And you spoke to the Kyuubi because...it's a demon thing?" She finished. Again, Naruto nodded.

"He said it probably won't happen too often, it was just bad timing," the blonde offered, "I'll have a talk with her to and try and explain everything for her so that this won't happen again. I'm sorry about all this."

"No, no, don't apologize," Sakura insisted, "I'm just glad that it's over. I was scared myself and I couldn't even see him."

"But you're okay now, right?" Naruto asked. Sakura was wearing a sweater, something she put on while the tea was brewing. The temperature of the house had risen since the spirit left, but she still felt a bit chilled from the eerie experience. Her heart rate had bumped up a bit at the thought of having a ghost following her around for a few hours. Was that why it was so cold?

"Yeah, I'm fine."

They sat in companionable silence for a moment longer, each enjoying their tea. Naruto had to admit—Sakura really knew how to make a cup of tea.

"How's your training going, by the way?"

Naruto thought back to the merging debacle not too long ago.

"We had a few problems," he admitted, "but I think I've got a solid way to rectify them. I should have this down in no time."

"That's good," Sakura smiled before realizing how it might have sounded, "Not that I mind this! This is a nice break from the usual rush of working in the hospital. Um...what do you think you're going to do when you do finish?"

Naruto glanced at her, taking note of the way she chewed on her bottom lip and tapped her fingers against her mug.

"Where am I going to live, you mean?" he correctly interpreted.

She blushed and nodded. Truth be told, she was going to miss sleeping in the same bed as him. She promised to keep things platonic between them, but that didn't stop her from enjoying the few times they'd woken up entangled in each other by pure accident. Or so he thought.

Naruto was honest in his response.

"I'm not sure. I suppose I'll try to keep from being put on active duty until Hitomi is a bit older. Maybe when she's in the academy I'll start taking more missions. I think I'll talk to Kurenai and see how she's handling things...I don't know much about ninja parenting. But I'll try to spend more time around Konoha, though."

Sakura smiled. That was all she wanted to hear.

"I'm sure Kakashi-sensei will let you focus on your own training until the Akatsuki are defeated."

Naruto frowned, "Oh yeah, them."

They were his responsibility now, weren't they?

"You know you're not in this alone," Sakura spoke up as if she had just read his thoughts, placing a cool hand on his arm, "You have all of Konoha's support. All of Fire Country's support, in fact."

He didn't know that. But it was nice to hear.

"Even the daimyo's wife?"

It was a publicly known fact that she was still pissed at him for punting her cat out of a tree when he was thirteen. And he really punted it.

Sakura smiled at the reference and giggled a bit.

"Even the daimyo's wife."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

I don't want to hear any whining about ghosts being lame. Well **of course** they are lame! But seeing as demons and spirites go hand in hand, its kind of stupid not to make that connection. Besides, Naruto's fear of ghosts is real—at least it is in the anime—so this is where I initially came up with it.

Anyway—it's _crucial_ to the plot. In fact, it's going to play a very big role in the story. Necessary stuff peoples, necessary stuff.

And no...Naruto is not going to sing like Edwin McCain. We've all heard him talk, so I don't think his singing will be anything to write home about either. The song was "I'll be" by, surprise, surprise Edwin McCain...not the most appropriate song to sing to your child if you hear all the lyrics, which is why i kept it short.

I was in no way dissing stay-at-home moms; motherhood is a full-time job, I know this...er...but not from personal experience. This is just Sakura's perspective, whose become taken to a life of action.

A bit of a boring chapter, I know, but it was needed to tie up some loose ends so that we can...HAVE A **TIME SKIP**!!!! whooooohooooo!

Thanks to **strider714** for editing...though he didn't do much because I am wonder woman. But paler. And many thanks to **MegaB** who, once again, managed to find the most ridiculous typos. I am not so much wonder woman T_T

And thank you everyone who reviews! And even those of you who don't––but you get slightly less thanks because you don't help me.

Next chapter...well, I just said it. TIME SKIP XD


	21. Backchat

**Chapter 21**

Yuuhi Kurenai was a sensible woman. She believed in patience and slow deduction to solve her problems; she saw to it that every occurrence had a reasonable and logical explanation behind it. Nara Shikamaru was another who valued rationalization as a way of life, spending his hours finding patterns in the world and breaking things down to the smallest detail.

As these were the two most influential people in Sarutobi Keiji's young life, he was also one to believe in all things logical.

Uzumaki Hitomi was not logical.

She was clumsy and irresponsible and somehow always dirty. She never wore shoes and she would never apologize, even when she was wrong. She stuck her gum behind her ear so that she could have tree climbing races with her fisher cat—which he had heard that she just took out of the forest one day and called it her own.

It was no secret that she was the village Jinchuuriki's daughter, that she was a half-breed of sorts—not quite human with demonic quirks. However, the village respected that because they respected her father. The Kyuubi's misdeeds against Konoha had ultimately lead to its power being used to protect the village; a fitting punishment in the eyes of many who witnessed the disaster, and a benefit to Konoha.

Still...demon or no, Hitomi was a girl.

Weren't girls supposed to play with dolls and stay clean?

Weren't they supposed to lose arm wrestling matches against guys?

Weren't they supposed to fuss over their figures rather than instigate ramen eating contests with whoever looked at them wrong?

They certainly weren't supposed to skip out on ikebana and try to worm into the boys' separate practice.

Keiji scowled at said girl as he watched her hold some poor kid in a chokehold—one of his friends actually. Her knees and arms were dirt smeared after the small scuffle that had just recently broken out and her hair had come undone from their usual short, low pigtails.

"Say it again!" Hitomi commanded the—to an outsider—victim of her aggression. But if anyone were to ask the blonde girl, she would gladly list all the reasons why Kataku Suni deserved the punishment she was doling out on him.

"I said you—urk—go back to your—," every time he tried to get a sentence out she would tighten her hold round his neck.

It was almost painful to watch one of the top students in taijutsu get his ass handed to him so quickly by a girl (granted they'd only been going for a few months) but Keiji had no plans to interfere. It was too troublesome.

The young brunette felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise from ingrained instincts born of being raised in a ninja village and he immediately knew this was about to end.

"Uzumaki Hitomi! Release him this instant!"

Suzume-sensei's voice echoed around the courtyard. The kids that had gathered to watch the fight immediately broke their circle and hushed.

"Aw crap," Hitomi muttered softly and liberated the dupe who had the gall to say she didn't belong there with the boys.

Suni bolted away from the demon-girl the second he was free and scurried to the other side of Suzume-sensei, all the while making a show of coughing and rubbing his neck. Once he was safely behind Suzume-sensei's leg,, he stuck his tongue out at her.

Hitomi growled and took a menacing step forward.

"Hitomi!"

"But he—"

"I don't want to hear it," Suzume cut her off sternly; "You're supposed to be in ikebana right now."

"But it's soooo duuuuumb!" Hitomi whined, an exaggerated pout on her lips, "What the hell would I need to arrange flowers for?"

Suzume adjusted her glasses and harrumphed at the language of today's youth.

"Sometimes a kunoichi needs to go undercover—and such missions require delicate and practiced ladies."

"But they should do it too!" Hitomi cried, outraged, while pointing a finger at the gaggle of boys who were snickering at the show, "Boys should have to henge as girls and...and...be all girly and stuff! Ugh, this isn't fair!"

This had become the routine for nearly every Wednesday and Thursday when the girls would take special Kunoichi classes while the boys got to have extra sparring practice. It infuriated Hitomi to no end.

"Everyone knows that most creepy old guys have it in for dudes. I bet half the kunoichi who seduce them are requested to henge into little boys."

Several of Keiji's classmates looked a bit queasy; Keiji himself knew better than to buy into one of her wild theories.

Suzume sputtered incoherently at the implications, the extent of which she was sure Hitomi didn't even realize.

"Why I—stop arguing with this system! This is how the course has been run for decades and we will not compromise it for your silly little delusions. Now get back to class before I have you suspended for insubordination!"

"When my dad becomes hokage he'll get rid of it," Hitomi grumbled, just loud enough for those around her to hear. She grudgingly stalked after the curly-haired witch, pausing to deliver the boys a threatening gesture.

"And apologize to Suni," Suzume added, not even having to turn around to know what Hitomi just did.

The young blonde looked like she would rather do anything but, and threw a quick and sarcastic apology at the smug looking brat before continuing her trek.

"Ha, serves her right, thinking she could keep up with us," Suni crowed to his buddies. He was clearly trying to play it off that he did not just get owned by a girl in under a minute. Keiji decided against warning his friend about Hitomi's super hearing and thus got to watch Suni fall to the ground as a dirt clod slammed against the back of his head.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Well, that little hellion of yours started another fight..." Iruka dropped into the conversation while seated at Ichiraku with two of his former students.

Naruto sucked in the noodle hanging from his mouth.

"Did she finish it?"

"Naruto!"

Moegi, the third customer, laughed heartily along with her old 'boss'.

"I'll talk to her," the young man promised. It wasn't an empty promise either; he really did need to talk to her. Hitomi never had too much trouble interacting with children in Bassai, but ever since she started the academy a few months ago she had begun to act up. Maybe it was spending her weeks in Konoha while only getting weekends in Bassai or maybe being surrounded by ninjas put her on edge. Whatever the reason, he needed to rectify what the problem was before she really hurt someone.

"I'll have another bowl!" he suddenly announced, deciding not to stew on something he didn't need to deal with at that precise moment.

"Me too."

"I'll have one as well."

Ayame grinned and began on the next three orders. The trio made a habit of having lunch at her stand a couple of times every week; they were her main source of outside gossip. Next to her fiancé, of course.

Iruka glanced under the bar and sent Naruto an amused smile.

"You're not wearing shoes in the center of town now? You're getting pretty bold."

As he integrated himself back into Konoha, Naruto familiarized its citizens with his acquired quirks—one of which was the lack of clothing. He usually wore his simple pants, mesh shirt and vest when in heavily populated areas; he even put on shoes per request of the Hokage. But along the outskirts of the village or in training fields or in the forest, the shoes would be lost. Sometimes the shirt as well. Iruka supposed it had to do with getting closer to nature or some ridiculous sage nonsense such as that. Maybe less layers meant less wind-resistance?

Naruto thumped his bare feet against the base of the bar a couple times and grinned at the brunette's statement.

"Yep!"

"I'm going to put up a 'no shoes, no service' sign one of these days," Ayame joked. Naruto looked scandalized.

"You wouldn't!"

Moegi tugged on a lock of blonde hair near his ear, causing his head to jerk to the side.

"Try to act a little normal, will ya? Who in their right mind prances around in bare feet?" She asked. She was always giving him beef about stepping on a stray kunai, even when both of them knew it would hardly faze him.

Naruto gave her a flat look and smacked her hand away before patting his head to make sure she didn't pull his hair out of its band. His hair had grown longer over the years, yet retained its spikes—much like his fathers had. In fact, he would probably look like his father if he didn't take to tying the longer front locks back in a half ponytail. Hitomi did it to him first when she was playing "dress up"; it turned out to be a practical way of keeping his hair out of his face for the most part.

"You need more help around here," Iruka observed as he watched Ayame expertly mince the garlic. Ayame shrugged one shoulder and shook the frying noodles with one hand. She had been running the stand by herself for a couple years now and she had been managing all right so far.

"Business hasn't been too bad, but I suppose I could use an extra pair of hands sooner or later. Just look at the company I serve! You keep up these heroic deeds and I won't ever have to worry about income; everyone will want to eat at my stand!"

She could very well have been talking about all three of them, but Iruka and Moegi were content to assume she was referring to Naruto—he was the only one of them who had actually saved a village single-handedly.

"Ayame, you got rid of the green jumpsuit," Naruto said, referring to Lee's recent use of normal clothes, "That is a public service and more heroic than anything I could ever do in my lifetime."

Moegi giggled and Iruka smothered a grin with his fist. Ayame was torn between laugher and indignation. She put her hands on her hips and tried to look stern.

"Hey, I know his sense of fashion left a bit to be desired, but all he needed was a woman's touch," she flipped a lock of brown hair over her shoulder, "Besides, I found a guy who knows how to treat me right!"

"Here, here!" Moegi cheered, lifting her sake cup. Iruka opened his mouth to say something out of habit (probably for the fifth time that afternoon) before once again realizing that she was of age. Sometimes it was so weird to acknowledge that his students were capable of growing up.

After the carrot-top swallowed the warm liquid, she set her cup down and stated, "Maybe if you and Lee would get on having babies you wouldn't even have to hire."

"They need to get married first," Iruka responded for the ramen cook, who was currently hiding her red face while she poured broth in the bowls. The odd couple had been engaged for several months now and had yet to set a date.

"Naruto didn't," Moegi pointed out, causing said man to purse his lips in displeasure at the example. He noticed that Moegi had taken to calling him 'Naruto' over 'Nii-chan' lately. He didn't quite know what to make of that.

"I'll have you know that Lee and I are thinking of getting married early April," Ayame informed them while laying out the latest order, "Mind you, we're just thinking about it."

"Oooh, really?" Moegi perked up and gladly took the offered bowl. A commotion of laughing academy children running by sounded from the other side of the flap—no doubt they were playing 'ninja' or the like.

What Ayame was going to say next was cut off as Naruto's hand snapped behind him and outside the establishment, yanking back—by the collar of her shirt—Hitomi.

Iruka winced, knowing that handling any other child that way would probably leave a rash on their neckline. As it were, he'd had enough experience with Hitomi in the last few months to know better. It still took some acclimatization to seeing such rough handling, even when knowing she wasn't quite human.

Naruto once tried explaining that it was like holding a kitten by the scruff of its neck. It still didn't make any sense to the school teacher.

"So what's this I hear about you mouthing off and starting fights?" Naruto asked mildly. Hitomi was still dangling a good two inches over the ground; there was no struggling on her part. It was as though she often found herself in this position.

Hitomi's look of surprise immediately melted into a mixture of shame and chagrin.

"Dad! They keep trying to make me take those stupid flower arranging classes! Why can't I train like the boys get to?"

Naruto closed his eyes. He should have known.

"Is it that bad to learn how to arrange flowers?" he asked calmly, "Who knows? You might need to learn it someday."

"Its deg-du—it's stupid!" she finished, not finding the word she was fishing for. She may have looked imposing with her arms crossed and sporting the strong glower, had she not been seven years old and dangling over the ground by the collar of her shirt.

"Just humor them hunny, it's only for a couple of hours a week. You'll live."

"Yeah, we all had to do it," Moegi added. In fact, when she was in the academy she loved the classes. Then again, she had many delusions of being a kunoichi that worked with beauty alone. Thank heavens she grew out of that phase.

"But when I do go they won't even let me eat them!" Hitomi griped. She had taken to kicking her feet back and forth like she was running in place; the motion caused her body to swing around in its suspension. If she was going to hang there she might as well have some fun.

"Hitomi, you shouldn't be eating the flowers," Naruto groaned with a small blush on his face as Ayame giggled behind the counter.

"But why? Those wisterias taste good, and aren't they supposed to be eaten?"

"Not by humans," her father answered and Hitomi's frown deepened further.

Naruto knew it was the subject of human behavior that his daughter always hated being lectured about. He wanted her to be adaptable, to hold back on demonic instincts. He wanted her to be proud of what she was but at the same time he didn't want her growing with a superiority complex against weaker species. Raising her was trickier than figuring out how to eat with his elbows off the table in his etiquette training with Tsunade. And that shit was hard.

"Dad..."

"No, listen to me," he cut her off, "I know you don't like it here much, but _you're_ the one who said you wanted to be a ninja and this is where you'll get the best education. Well, it's the closest anyway. So please, try to behave yourself better. For me?"

He met her with a pout of his own. Clearly, she learned from the best.

"Fine..." she sighed. After hearing her compliance he set her down, which was good for him because holding a swiveling child up with one hand was starting to hurt.

"So did you win, Tomi-chan?" Moegi suddenly asked, earning an outraged cry from Iruka for endorsing such behavior and an exasperated glare from Naruto, much for the same reasons.

Hitomi immediately brightened.

"Yeah! I got him with this chicken wing before he knew what hit him!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! Yeah! And he was all like: 'Ahh, you're a girl' and I was all like 'suck it bi—''

"OKAY!" Naruto cut in, shooting Moegi a dark look while covering Hitomi's mouth with his hand, "We get it, you won. I know that you definitely did not swear at him."

He leveled a meaningful look at his daughter, one that even Iruka was impressed with. Hitomi pulled the large hand away from her face.

"Of course not, daddy," she replied sweetly, her hands clasped behind her back in the picture of a cherub, "I was going to call him 'birch pollen'. That's what I call people who make my eyes itch."

"Just…go play with your friends," Naruto sighed, waving her off. She didn't need to be told twice.

"Kay! See ya' later daddy, Moegi-nee-chan, Iruka-sensei!"

"Hey!"

"Oh, bye Ayame!"

"Be home before five!" Naruto called out into the streets. She was too far gone to be bothered with a reply.

"Wow," Iruka said after a moment. He didn't have kids himself. He was dating a civilian woman—an older sister of one of his former students to be exact—and they were starting to get serious. But right now, he wasn't sure if he wanted to end up with children. Working with them and raising them were two different things.

"I swear she picks this crap up from school. I don't talk like that in front of her," Naruto mumbled, slightly embarrassed by her behavior.

"Birch pollen?" Moegi giggled. She liked that; she was going to use it from now on. The heat of her companion's ire radiated against the side of her face. She took her time assembling the noodles onto her chopsticks before bringing them slowly to her mouth, not wanted to drip any broth on her lap. Only then, as she meticulously chewed on her food, did she dare face the irritated father.

"Really?" Naruto deadpanned, "Did ya' have to go there?"

"But she's so happy when she talks about beating people up! Didn't you see her cute little face light up just a minute ago?"

"It's true," Ayame surprisingly agreed. It was a rare day when Iruka had to side with Naruto on something against females, but today was one of those days.

"I do not want her turning into a bully," Naruto argued, "And encouraging her to pick fights whenever something doesn't go her way will turn her into a bully."

"Ah, suck it, birch pollen."

"A-Ayame!"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Sakura leaned against the wall in the hospital lounge with a mug of hot coffee warming her hands—a drink Naruto got her into. She was taking a well deserved break after spending the morning in surgery and then spending the subsequent three hours teaching a handful of new recruits the basics. She soon learned, after explaining how to change a simple bedpan for the fifth time, that she'd rather be working surgery any day.

All too familiar laughter drew Sakura from the small trance she fell into. She pushed away from the wall to glance out the window and, lo and behold, there was Naruto walking down the streets. She was about to call out to him, perhaps invite him up for a cup of joe himself, when a second figure came into the picture.

The tall, slender redhead was leaning against her old teammate in a manner that made her nearly bite her tongue in an effort to keep from shouting.

"Oh come on!" Moegi was laughing, loud enough for even Sakura, who was on the third floor, to hear her rather clearly, "Admit it: you thought it was funny!"

"It would be funnier if I didn't know it was a lie," Naruto replied in turn. He may have been trying to keep his voice even, but Sakura could see a smile pulling at his lips.

"But a very good lie," the girl countered, "She's very clever. She got that from you."

"No, she's a smart-ass."

"She got that from you too."

The only 'she' Sakura could think they would be talking about was Hitomi. Smart-ass and clever both seemed to fit the bill when it came to that girl.

Sakura watched silently as the pair continued down the road, laughing about inside jokes and making future plans to hang out. She bit her lip, feeling a bit betrayed for reasons unknown even to herself.

"Don't tell me you're threatened by the seals-girl?"

Sakura 'eeped' and spun around, sloshing coffee down the front of her blouse.

"Ugh, shishou..." she growled as if her ruined shirt was Tsunade's fault—even when she was the jounin who got snuck up on. Setting her coffee down on a countertop, Sakura stalked to the adjoining bathroom to get what she could out of her shirt before it stained.

"What are you doing here?" the pinkette asked from the bathroom, her voice echoing around the tiled walls.

Tsunade smiled wickedly.

"Just thought I'd drop by and watch you ogle Naruto like a creeper."

"Shishou!"

The older woman laughed at Sakura's embarrassed cry. Teasing her cute little apprentice never got old.

Even to that day Tsunade was amazed at how different team seven turned out from when they were first constructed. The majority of Konoha's ninja were under the impression that history was repeating itself. For the most part, it had.

Sasuke abandoned his village for personal gain, turning himself into the enemy despite all the potential he showed as a child. Naruto pulled away as well, but in the sense of becoming a free spirit. He stayed near Konoha, kept his eye on it, and protected it from afar, yet at the same time kept the illusion that he wasn't doing much of anything. He was bouncing around from place to place with nothing to anchor him but his bond with his child; he refused to see that an anchor was what he needed.

It was Sakura who broke the cycle first. She stayed—despite watching those closest to her walk away, and despite whatever hard memories she had to face, she remained in Konoha. Tsunade was weak, she ran away and tried to drown herself in bad habits; anything that could ease her mind was game. But Sakura faced her troubles head on, she put her village first as a ninja should. In fact, she even chose to spend more time in the village working in the hospital rather than go out on A-class missions. Her argument was that there were plenty of ninja to accomplish a job but not enough skilled medics. As Tsunade saw it, Sakura just wanted to stay closer to Naruto, who had been doing a fine job evading any serious missions while Hitomi was young.

As of now, the roles of the strongest three ninjas in a generation had been scrambled. Sasuke was lost to them, Sakura was chasing after Naruto, and Naruto...well, he was in his own little world.

"So why haven't you gotten with the knucklehead yet?" Even Tsunade was starting to get impatient with her apprentice's progress...or lack thereof.

Sakura came out of the bathroom with a dark, wet spot shining on the front of her shirt. She looked quite frustrated.

"Shishou, I've tried getting close to him, you know I have! But Naruto's so focused on his daughter—er, not that that's a bad thing," she added hastily, "but it's almost as if he's using her as an excuse not to put himself out there! I thought I was making progress but..."

Tsunade refrained from smacking her own forehead. Her gem might fall off.

"Of course that's what he's doing! What I'm asking is: _why do you keep letting him?_"

"Huh?" Sakura sounded intelligently while looking quite bewildered, "I don't...what are you saying?"

Tsunade moved to sit on the worn lounge couch that desperately needed to be replaced.

"There was a time when you didn't take any crap from him," the elderly woman said wistfully, "You wouldn't let him hide his feelings and you wouldn't let him hide from you."

Sakura shook her head. A rueful smile crossed her face as she sat next to her mentor.

"That was when he was just a stupid boy," was her cheerless reply. Tsunade could only roll her eyes.

"I got news for you, Sakura. He's still a stupid boy."

The young woman snorted and grudgingly smiled.

"That may be, but he does a fine job of hiding it. I feel so lame whenever I try to get him out on a date with me. He can make it seem like I'm taking him away from Hitomi for idiotic reasons without even saying anything."

"There's nothing idiotic about wanting to spend time with someone you care about—especially with the dangers that surround us today," Tsunade assured her. Up until now Sakura had done a fine job of staying true to her passionate, albeit hotheaded, persona. Tsunade would hate to see her develop the same insecurities she did at that age.

"I know...but...maybe I am just wasting my time. Sometimes I think he's interested and other times...I don't know. He's so hard to read."

And it was exactly that hopeless disposition Tsunade wanted Sakura to avoid. She reached over and ran her fingers through the morose woman's hair a couple times.

"He's scared, Sakura. That's all," her sensei explained, "He's somehow got it in his head that caring so strongly about Hitomi is a big enough risk as it is."

"Ha," Sakura scoffed, "Naruto? Scared? He pretends nothing bad ever happens, like everything can just roll off him."

But even as she said it she knew she didn't believe it. Despite appearances, the young man wasn't infallible. He spent a good amount of time in meditation and training, he accepted his superhuman genetics, he seemed so untouchable—walking around barefoot, always knowing what was happening on the other side of the village, playing "wonder dad"...but Sakura knew he sought sanctuary in his agenda; it was his only stability. He acted like spending any extra time with her would pull the rug out from under his feet.

"You know better than anyone what a sham his smiles can be," Tsunade commented, as if to add to her thoughts.

Sakura nodded. Of course she knew. That was one of the things that drew her to him. She just wanted to help him. She wanted him to let her take care of him for once.

"Besides, everything's about to change now and he knows it," at Sakura's curious look, Tsunade continued, "Hitomi's becoming more independent. Now that she's in the ninja program she's spending more time away from him; pretty soon he's going to have to acknowledge that she's growing up. And once she's out of the picture, he'll have to get a life of his own."

"I don't want him interested in me because he has nothing better to do," Sakura muttered, the dark cloud over her head not letting up. "Besides, I don't think I quite have Hitomi's approval yet. And if she doesn't accept me, he won't."

"Because she's threatened by you," Tsunade said, to which Sakura sent her an incredulous look. "Because she knows Naruto is interested in you. He really is."

That didn't sound encouraging at all to Sakura.

"I also don't want to fight for his attention with his own daughter," she moaned. If this was Tsunade's idea of cheering her up, it wasn't working.

Quirking her lips in a half smile, Tsunade patted the woman's head with a withered hand.

"Just trust me on this. Don't give up on him; call it old people's intuition if you will, but a time of change is upon us."

"You think so?"

It made a bit of sense. The Akatsuki were starting to stir once more, Hitomi was leaving the nest so to speak; things were starting to shake up again. Maybe the chance for her and Naruto to blossom would transpire in the end.

"In any case…you don't want that Moegi to be there for him instead, do you?"

Sakura sent her a dark look.

"Very funny, shishou..."

Tsunade waved off her ire lightheartedly, "Bah, you know she doesn't stand a chance, not while you're here, anyway. Once Naruto catches wind that she's coming onto him he'll probably pull away from her as well. Though, being the little spitfire she's turned out to be, she probably won't let him. Kind of like what I would have expected from you..."

Sakura nearly bit her tongue as she glared at the very window she recently saw the pair walking by.

"Really, sensei, you're not helping here."

"Well moping about him being out of your reach certainly isn't going to get you anywhere; there are plenty of more self-asserted women out there who will snatch him up once he's left wandering around without his daughter. Poor thing...he'll be so easy to take advantage of..."

Sakura clenched her fist, the thought of someone else tending to Naruto when she was hardly given a chance made her blood boil. She wasn't going down without a fight.

"Ha! We'll see about that!"

Those stupid harlots milling about down there wouldn't dare get in her way. She missed the triumphant shadow that passed over Tsunade's face.

"That's good to hear," the grayed female commented passively after clearing her throat a bit. "Now, for why I really came here: I just finished talking with the Hokage."

"Oh?" Now that Sakura thought about it, she had been so busy at the hospital for the last few weeks that she'd hardly any time to visit her former sensei.

"Yes, and as Naruto will be freed up a bit more, his excuse to stay out of missions isn't valid anymore, as he agreed."

"Will we be working as a team again?" Sakura asked with barely concealed glee. Tsunade smiled.

"Not quite. This is more of a request for you and an order for him."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Well?!"

That single word carried all the contempt, impatience, and aggression that Uchiha Sasuke had picked up over the years.

From the other side of the door—completely out of sight, as they weren't welcome by any means—Juugo and Suigetsu shared a look. They could already tell by the small pause what the answer was going to be. The same as every other answer before it.

Ren didn't appear fazed by the hostility in the least; his indifference only served to piss Sasuke off that much more. Especially from someone so weak.

Ren was a simple boy; his hair was silver and braided, his body slender and frail. He stood on the short side for a seventeen year old, only reaching five foot four. His eyes had an irritated red hue in the sclera, but other than that there had been nothing remotely threatening about him. He was a scholar, a doctor, nothing useful for an organization of Akatsuki's nature. So why Madara demanded that they hunt him down and bring him to their base was a mystery the rest were still scratching their heads at.

"Its...negative," the young man stated calmly.

"Then get another damn woman in here!" Sasuke exploded. Ren brushed some of his long, silver bangs out of his face and smiled a plastic smile.

"We've already checked her, it's not Karin's fault. If you'd only let me—"

"IT'S NOT ME!"

It didn't make any sense to the young Uchiha. He had been trying for so long to get Karin pregnant. For the last few years, in fact. One of his lifelong goals was to rebuild his clan, to repopulate the sharingan and return the Uchiha name to its full glory, but every time Ren checked the woman the result would always be the same: not pregnant.

It couldn't be him. He was powerful...and potent! Even when he was living in Konoha everyone expected him to produce a plethora of children. They even had him checked when he graduated, just to insure that the Uchiha line wouldn't end with him.

"The body changes under stress," Ren commented with eerie timing, "It's perfectly possible that there was some stressor you encountered over the last several years that triggered impotence."

Sasuke was in the smaller man's face in less than a second.

"_It's. Not. Me._" he bit out, his teeth bared, his sharingan smoldering.

Ren shrugged and swiftly stepped to the side, away from the focus of ire.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," the irritating boy stated in bland taste, "now, if you'll excuse me, I have other matters to attend to."

It was probably the notion that Ren was involved with more projects than he was that made him the most intolerable.

His mind ablaze, Sasuke swiveled on the spot and stalked out of the room, pausing at the spot where he knew Juugo and Suigetsu were moments before to curl his lip before continuing on his way.

Over the years Akatsuki had made an impressive sum of money; they had been putting their superior ninja skills to work and taking on high paying missions that smaller countries didn't have the resources to accomplish. They accepted prices just under what the major villages would demand, still earning a decent figure, yet stealing business away from the great nations.

They now resided in an old mansion in a remote location. Complicated seals set in place by Pein kept them well hidden from the rest of the world. It was quite a step up from the cave life, though Karin was always complaining about investing in a heater—they were a bit more North than she was used to.

He found Madara sitting in the kitchen. There was a mug of tea in front of the man, but it wasn't touched. It was never touched.

"I...I can't have children." Sasuke spoke the words he wouldn't admit in front of Ren. He had become quite an imposing figure over the years; tall and dark, strong and pale, with a voice that was both chilling and formidable. But now it sounded around the sparsely furnished room with disbelief and emptiness.

Madara cocked his head to the side.

"Well of course," he said simply with a shrug as though the answer had been obvious the whole time. Which it had; to others of the group, anyway, for a good year now. But until this moment Sasuke had refused to see reason. Madara decided to grant his young heir an explanation.

"Receiving the cursed seal decreases potency exponentially. Its boost of power mimics a steroid and increases estrogen production as a reflex," he paused for a moment, rubbing his chin, "Of course, the mangekyo sharingan has a similar effect. I've noticed a pattern of the more powerful of our family having less children. Sometimes none at all."

Sasuke couldn't believe what he was hearing. He placed a hand on the side of his head, almost as if to steady himself.

"And you didn't tell me?" he hissed when he found his voice once more, "You let this happen? You let me waste my time with Karin?!"

Madara laughed, apparently taking the matter quite lightly.

"Let it happen? What difference would it have made? You had already gone to Orochimaru before you met me, and you had already killed your brother for the eye. What was done was done by the time I came around."

Sasuke's nails were digging into his palms, his temper rising like the volcanoes of Demon Country.

"Besides, I thought you could do with a little sex—"

"ARE YOU SHITTING ME?"

Sasuke was breathing hard, his head was spinning.

Madara leaned back, not quite expecting an outburst of that magnitude.

"Hn. Clearly I was mistaken. So sorry."

Sasuke wanted to smash the man's face in, he almost made an attempt, before remembering that Madara would most likely pull that annoying stunt that would cause his fist to go right through him.

His blood was boiling, his head hurt, he needed an outlet for his aggression...and he wasn't going to find it in this decrepit old house.

"I can't believe I wasted so much time here," Sasuke murmured to himself. What was he waiting for anyway? For Karin to get pregnant? So that there would be insurance that the Uchiha line would continue if he died in his crusade against Konoha?

Well that plan was out the window.

What if he had known beforehand that he wouldn't have children? Would he have used the curse mark so much? Maybe...he wasn't a "family" kind of guy; not any more, not with his history. But what if he had known the truth about the Uchiha massacre? Would the power be worth more than his legacy?

"Hindsight is twenty-twenty, isn't it?" the ancient man piped up, like he _wanted_ to drive Sasuke completely over the edge.

The younger Uchiha lifted his head and stared at Madara. Somehow, this was his entire fault. If he had won against the Shodaime in the first place then the Uchiha would never be suppressed as they were. If he hadn't helped Itachi kill Sasuke's family then maybe more would have survived. Maybe he wouldn't have had to make the choice between his goals and his dreams.

"Fuck this," Sasuke coughed roughly, backing towards the door.

"I beg your pardon?" Madara stated politely, acting as though he couldn't hear the raw declaration.

"Fuck this," he growled again in a much softer tone, though he lost none of the contempt. What was there left in his life? His back was against a wall. His very existence now solely depended on eliminating Konoha, on evening the score with the slights against he and his family. If the Uchiha couldn't have Konoha, then no one could.

He turned, sparing Madara one last glare before bouldering out of the room. He nearly crashed into Ren, who had suddenly appeared in the doorway. For once Sasuke made no snide remark, he just shoved his way by, nearly bruising the young man's shoulder in his vehemence.

Ren stood between rooms, switching his glance between Madara and Sasuke's retreating back until the cloaked man disappeared from view.

"He's going to Konoha," Ren announced after a moment of reflection, though it was unnecessary.

"I know."

"He'll probably die."

"I know," Madara repeated and he sounded almost regretful, "Turns out he was damaged goods after all."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Ooookay! Last chapter was boring because it was a "closing chapter" for the first part of the fic. Father-daughter cuteness is taking a big dip in favor of more action. Don't think the next big fight scene will happen next chapter, but it's coming.

Hitomi's a brat, as are all seven year olds; she'll grow out of it…hopefully. Sakura is le sad, Naruto is le dumb, and Lee is le suave. I am in a 'le' mood today, clearly.

I've left hints on how Naruto's character developed over the years, how he was described this chapter may be a bit confusing at the moment, but it becomes more clear in the next few chapters.

Oi vey, I don't know how many times I'm going to have to explain this but this is the last time: In japanese folklore foxes or "kitsune" are known as tricksters or possibly magical beings that can take human form, yes, that's all good and well...but Naruto is not a 'le fox', he is a 'le demon'--hell, this even applies to the kyuubi. Even if it's a "fox-demon" it's a type of DEMON not a type of fox. I'm taking the demon route for Naruto, D-E-M-O-N, he has demon-y traits, not fox traits. He does not attract other foxes or have an innate desire to trick people (that came partially from his mother, partially from an isolated childhood...not fox-ness or whatever u kids call it).

If Kishimoto can take liberties with ancient ideals, so can I.

Anyway, big thanks to **Cat Foxgloves**, who is my second beta and **MegaB**, who continues to find ridiculous mistakes! Because that's how atrocious my grammar is T_T

And thank you all for reviewing and your support! It really means a lot to me!

Next chapter: Naruto is not a happy camper and neither are Konoha's newest gennin.


	22. Better than Bells

**

* * *

**

Chapter 22

"...Team 4 is Shikima Yuu, Inuzuka Mai, and Hyuuga Kagami; your jounin instructor will be Haruno Sakura."

"Yes!" Yuu gave a raucous cry as he jumped from his seat. The sudden movement sent both his new, clan-oriented teammates—who were, coincidently, sitting next to him—reeling back at the outburst. "We get the hot-sensei!"

"Sit down!" Mai snapped, yanking the fool back into his seat.

"Moving on..." the academy teacher mumbled. He couldn't wait until he got rid of this bunch. "On Team 5 are Donki Toshi, Yutaka Oki, and Souryo Ringo. Your instructor will be Uzumaki Naruto. Oh yes, and...uh...you're supposed to go find him on training grounds 17."

"Huh? Isn't he supposed to come here to meet us?" the only girl of team 5, Oki, asked. The chuunin shrugged.

"He said he was a 'busy guy'. If I were you, I'd just do as he asked."

Ringo leaned over Toshi, his friend and new teammate, to whisper: "Isn't he the jinchuuriki we learned about? The same guy from the Battle at the Border?"

Toshi nodded, "Pretty sure, yeah. If he's really that powerful, then we'll end up pretty powerful too, don't you think?"

"The stories are obviously exaggerations," Oki said from the row behind them, making sure to keep her tone under Sumio-sensei's announcements. Ringo turned in his seat, the knot of his backwards hiate-ate now faced her from its resting place on his forehead. He gave Oki a stodgy face.

"No one asked you."

The girl stuck her tongue out and said, "Some of the things they claimed happened were physically impossible. I don't believe for a second that this guy took out miles of forest with one attack. That's just ridiculous."

"He's the jinchuuriki!" Ringo rasped loudly, as if that alone explained all things unexplainable. "If the Kyuubi could do it then so can he."

"Er...I don't think it works like that..." Toshi muttered but he was ignored by the others.

Oki was shaking her head at Ringo's implausible notion, "And the fact that he did it all with a stick?"

"...Okay, that was probably a story," Ringo admitted. "But I still say we're pretty lucky to get him as a sensei."

Toshi crossed his arms. As usual, his visor shielded his eyes from the view of others.

"Tch, unless he's one of the arrogant types. I can't stand dicks like that," he carped, sending an unnoticed stink eye towards Hyuuga Kouta, Kagami's twin.

"He's not even a jounin you know," Oki continued. "He never took the chuunin exams or the jounin test; I heard that after he completed his senjutsu training he just stopped."

Ringo looked rather put out, "Uh...so he's a genin? Like us? Wait-a-minute, no way! They wouldn't let a genin teach genin."

Toshi idly pondered on how and why Oki knew all this about a man they hadn't even met yet and added, "You heard Sumio-sensei. He said our "instructor" not "jounin instructor" like with the rest of the teams. I think Oki might be right—he is a genin."

"No, he's a sage," Oki corrected. Ringo immediately perked up.

"Sweet!" he chirped.

"That's not even a rank, fucktard," Oki snapped, before looking rather abashed at the berating stare Sumio-sensei sent her way. Her face dropped even further once she realized that the man had only gotten through half of their graduating class. "Aw man...do we even need to be here for the rest of this if we already know who our sensei is?"

"Probably not," Toshi answered in a casual manner as he rested his chin on his palm.

Oki sent another bored look around the class room before carrying on, "Then what's stopping us from leaving?"

Toshi's mouth slowly spread into a jagged grin.

"Because I want to see this "hot-sensei" Yuu has."

Ringo shared in his sentiments.

"Yeah!"

"I-idiots!"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

A steady, gentle breeze fanned through Konoha that afternoon, threading its way through the intricate layout of establishments and vegetation. Earlier in the day, the wind hailed from the east: a sign that new things were to come. Usually, such an omen could be equally open to negative or positive interpretation. However, more recently in the hour, the northern winds began to overpower the usual gale.

A warning.

The man making note of these nebulous observations took a deep breath into his meditation. To anyone passing by they would see the customary spectacle of Uzumaki Naruto stretched out on a tree branch much like a languid cat, snoozing the day away. Very few were aware that this was his signature meditation stance—even fewer knew he was exercising his sage powers to keep his eye on Konoha. In this condition, he could see things even the byakugan couldn't, for the eyes were only a fraction of the senses...and the sounds, feel, and scent of the world told so much more than vision alone could. Everything in their world, both mortal and not, had a story to tell, and humans only wanted to listen to their own voices.

This particular tree he currently inhabited was quite young compared to those that surrounded it, only three hundred years or so old if his surmises were correct; Naruto felt a kindred spirit in it. It was his personal reminder to his mortality—a reminder that, no matter how powerful Naruto became, no matter how many legendary ninjas he surpassed, he would never, ever compare to this vernal tree alone. It was humbling to have his insignificant place in the universe thrown in his face every time he activated Sage mode, terrifying even, to know that he was little more than an amoeba on the sentient being that was Earth.

And yet...he couldn't get enough of it.

Many wouldn't see the merit of spending hours upon hours in meditation, and any who knew Naruto as a boy were well aware of his adversity in managing the simple act of sitting still. But Earth was a more complex and powerful organism than any creature that roamed it—it connected its inhabitance on a deeper level than anyone—even a sage—could realize. Naruto didn't think he would ever be able to describe the feeling of relaxing into a greater power; it was a head rush for him, far more exciting and comforting than anything he'd ever experienced before. Sometimes he would feel dizzy and disoriented after spending a particularly long while immersed in nature's cocoon of perception, other times he would feel sharper and more alert than any amount of coffee could make him—either way, it was his personal addiction. He was getting high while everyone thought he was sleeping.

_...a young family of birds twittered loudly from several trees into the forest...an infantile, rawboned set of talons scratched along the twigs of the nest as one of the babies climbed to the edge...little, underdeveloped wings beat rapidly, trying to take flight...the flitter increased as wind tussled with the awkward movements, dominating the attempt in a manner of scolding...the baby wasn't ready yet..._

Over the years, Naruto acquired the nasty habit of worming his way out of missions whenever he could. It was more so out of his desire to spend more time with (and keep an eye on) his daughter than for meditation purpose. It also didn't hurt that, as Konoha's jinchuuriki, he did have quite a bit of leverage over the Hokage. Instead of handling jobs that any other jounin could do, Naruto spent his time keeping guard over Konoha and the spy network from within his comfort zone, still sending out his specialized shadow clones to handle incoming intel while he handled domestic matters himself.

Maybe it was because he became too powerful too fast—there was no one else like him and he was bounded on all sides by humans who were far too delicate—or maybe he just needed his own security blanket of sorts, but having the Earth surround him, reminding him that he was far weaker than it but it would still protect him as its own child, helped to quell an unease he often carried in his heart. He felt less alone, knowing that he wasn't at the top of the food chain all by himself.

It was a simple—but connected—way of life he had found relief in. That was, until Kakashi decided that Naruto needed to be more _directly_ involved with the village.

_...A chittering ballad rushed along fields that bordered the forest...insects scurried amongst the verdure, miniscule antennae scraping along rock fragments, little legs burrowing into the earth...blades of grass shaving against one another in a hushing choir..._

Naruto knew well enough by now that hypersensitivity had its drawbacks.

_...then they were being crushed...the dirt compacted and separated under the heavy footfalls of approaching humans...an ant's head severed from its body by an unfortunately placed nin-sandal..._

"**DO YOU THINK HE'S HERE?"**

Naruto all but cringed at the assault on his poor ears. It was a girl's voice, spoken strongly but not intentionally loud. No, the amplification was his own fault, through his uncanny influence over the wind.

Another voice, this time male, blared next.

"**HE'S RIGHT UP THERE! WHAT THE—?"**

With his eyes still closed, Naruto was able to determine the general shape of the three, adolescent humans approaching. The girl's foot patterns, as well as the angle and distance at which the wind had to carry her speech, gave the impression that she was of a short, slight stature—probably just over four and a half feet. One of the boys was tall and gangly, while the other rather average in size. Nothing unusual about their auras or chakra signals—no kekkai genkai could be detected.

"_**THAT**_** WAS WHAT WAS SO IMPORTANT THAT **_**WE**_** HAD TO FIND **_**HIM**_**? HE WAS TAKING A CAT NAP!?"** the girl was speaking again, sounding every bit as embittered as the context of her words would imply.

Aside from the booming Japanese the airstream hurled at his ear, Naruto was rather comfortable; he had been very relaxed in his meditation and harbored no desire to rejoin the "outside" world just yet, so his eyes remained closed and his breathing even. He pulled back a bit on the immersion, limiting his "sight" into Konoha exponentially, yet still retaining just enough of a nexus between nature and his own body to continue monitoring his new genin.

"Well, let's wake him up..." the tall child trailed. His voice was no longer augmented to aggravate Naruto's eardrums.

_...the sound of fabric being rustled...a pouch opening...metal sliding against metal..._

_'Don't do it kid...' _Naruto thought to himself; in no uncertain terms was he concerned despite knowing exactly what was going to happen. He just knew repairing the damage to his clothes would be, for lack of better word, troublesome.

Not two seconds later and the sharp pain of a kunai embedded into his side jolted his body the rest of the way out of meditation.

Fantastic. He had idiots for students.

"TOSHI! WHAT HAVE YOU JUST DONE???" This time her voice wasn't loud because of the wind—the girl was yelling.

Blearily, Naruto opened his eyes, still completely calm despite his freshly torn and stained vest. He graced the three wee ones with a dark look for "waking" him.

His piercing gaze first landed on the middle individual: a bald boy with his hitai-ite worn backwards. There were no distinguishable markings on him other than the gauged ears. That and he looked to be donning some kind of odd chaps for pants.

Next he caught sight of the yammering child. As he deduced, the girl was the shortest of the three, with dark brown hair swept up in a large, low side-bun. She appeared to be wearing a short-spandex suit with a...was that a corset?! What was _wrong_ with today's youth?

He'd be damned if he ever let Hitomi dress like that.

The third and tallest component of their new team one was probably the most normal dressed—aside from the visor that sat too low on his face, the odd mop of brown hair shooting out of it like a palm tree and the distinguishing birthmark on his jaw, there was nothing extraordinary about him. He appeared to have the calmest energy of the bunch. He was also the one who just stuck him with a kunai.

The screaming continued in the background: "I can't believe you just stabbed our sensei!!! What is wrong with you!!!?"

With a soft grunt, Naruto pulled the kunai out of his side and briefly inspected it. Just a simple, B-grade craft, nothing he really needed—not that he needed kunai in the first place, Stick would get jealous—but Tomi could use some simpler models to practice with.

"See! He's fine! Argh—_ouch_—knock it off Oki! He's fine! He's fine!" 'Toshi' was yelling back, fending off the girl's slapping attack with slapping of his own. The bald one stood to the side of the slapfest, looking like he wanted to be amused but didn't know if he was allowed to be.

"Settle down," Naruto assuaged the squawking girl. He took his time adjusting himself on the branch so that he could sit snugly against the trunk.

At his order, the three genin immediately imparted him with their full attention, standing tall and firm as they were drilled to do in the presence of a superior.

"My first impression of you guys is..." the genin held their breath, pending the worst, "I like you!"

"Y-you...huh? But I just stabbed you with a kunai..." Toshi trailed, still looking absolutely bewildered at the turn of events. He only intended to alert the man of their presence, not bring him any physical harm. In the first instant that the kunai sunk into the flesh of his target, Toshi initially anticipated some telltale sign of dispelling for any sort of clone. As the burnt-orange fabric of the man's vest began to darken with blood his expectations were shattered, and his stomach dropped to his navel as a wave of foreboding washed over him.

He couldn't be blamed! Ninja instinctively dodged attacks like that—who would willingly take a kunai to the spleen?

"Why didn't you dodge it?" Oki asked before Toshi could himself. She was unable to fathom how a fresh-out-of-the-academy genin managed to nail a sage with one sloppy throw of a kunai.

"Didn't give me a reason to," Naruto said tiredly as he wiped the blood-stained metal clean against the thigh of his pants. His mind was still a bit hazy from spending hours soused in cosmos. He probably should have pulled back the second the kids reached the training grounds...but he was just so cozy!

"I'm keeping this, by the way," he waved the recently thrown weapon in the air by the tip before pocketing it.

Toshi immediately protested, "But that's mine! I bought it!"

"Then don't carelessly throw it away like that."

Oki was still shaking her head, not exactly sure what was going on.

"But—but why didn't you just catch it?" she pressed. "Were you really sleeping?"

"No," Naruto answered. He stretched his arms over his head as his body reanimated after its relaxation time. "I was just comfy."

Oki's knees buckled and she fell to the ground. The shaven-headed kid, the only one who hadn't spoke yet, finally broke down and began laughing.

"Are you going to be okay?" Toshi asked with sincere concern. He was still a little miffed at losing his kunai, but he didn't want to get on his sensei's bad side already. He was lucky the man wasn't upset to begin with.

...And shouldn't he have gotten a band aid or something by now?

"Yeah, don't worry about that. You can't hurt me," Naruto said it so casually, as if it were a technical fact straight out of their academy text books, that the kids didn't even think to feel insulted.

"Have a seat, kiddies; let's get introductions out of the way. Just give me your names and the reason you want to be a ninja. Why don't we start with stab-happy over here?"

The shade of the visor couldn't hide Toshi's blush nearly as well as it hid his eyes.

"Erm...alright. I'm Donki Toshi. I became a ninja because...uh...well because I had nothing better to do, I suppose. And I'd rather be defending our village than working in my father's shop."

"Fair enough," Naruto shrugged and pointed to the girl. She straightened her back in her kneel and began her introduction.

"My name is Yutaka Oki, and I became a ninja so that I can become an awesome kunoichi and take all the hard SS-class missions and make a super lot of money!"

There were very, very few people Naruto could think of that went into the shinobi market for money—in fact the only one he could remember at the moment was Kakuzu. It wasn't a very profitable job unless you were the best of the best, so either this chick had some high hopes or she really wasn't that bright.

The bald kid took his cue.

"I'm Souryo Ringo and I became a ninja so that I can start a famous ninja clan!"

"Start—what?"

"Yeah," Ringo seemed unsurprised by Naruto's skepticism, it wasn't the usual dream one heard. "I mean, there's no kekkai genkai in my family, but I figured if I find my niche in certain jutsus I can make the Souryo name as renowned as the Nara's or the Akimichi's."

Naruto had to hand it to the kid, it was unique but plausible.

"Yeah? Any particular jutsu you're good at?"

"I'm...still working on that part."

Naruto laughed, "Well, good luck with that kid."

These genin seemed so happy, so carefree; they name a goal and there are no such things as limitations or obstacles yet. It was out of sight, out of mind for them. Naruto had to wonder if he came off as this woefully optimistic to Kakashi. Thinking back on his own introduction over a decade ago, Naruto realized that Kakashi must have perceived him as an absolute dope, loudly spouting about becoming Hokage and loving ramen.

Scratch that—Sakura came off as the dope; she didn't even manage a complete sentence besides her name.

This time around, he had no sulkers and no fan girls and no dead-lasts. There was no repeat of team 7, thank God.

Maybe Sakura was unfortunate enough to get one like that.

"What about you?" Toshi asked, bringing Naruto back to the present.

Naruto pointed to himself, "Me? Well, I'm Uzumaki Naruto. And I initially became a ninja so that I could become Hokage."

"Initially?" Oki inquired. "You don't want that anymore?"

"Hokage is a job for when you retire," he answered patiently. "Why would a perfectly capable, active shinobi be stationed behind a desk all the time?"

The three genin had on their 'Ohhh' faces, but Naruto could tell they had no idea what he was talking about. How could they? They'd never experienced the adrenaline rush of battle compared to the monotony of filling out report after report. They were taught that the strongest shinobi earned the position of Hokage, but knew nothing of its more inactive duties.

"So you still plan on being Hokage eventually?" Ringo asked dubiously—clearly the kunai incident hadn't impressed him. The man paused and regarded the eager looking child's question for a moment.

If someone asked Naruto why he wanted to be Hokage when he was twelve, he would answer: "So that everyone can respect me!" If asked again when he was sixteen his reply would have been: "To protect everyone who is precious to me." These days, he was more liable to say: "Well, someone's gotta do it."

It wasn't the glamorous job he imagined it to be as a child. It was heart-wrenching, guilt-addling, tedious and oppressive. But, despite already having the village's respect and despite already having the power to protect what was important to him, Naruto still planned on taking over for Kakashi one day. Mostly because he didn't trust anyone else to do a competent job of it.

He couldn't let Kakashi know that yet; he still used the threat that he'd never take the position to blackmail the man from time to time. All friendly stuff, of course.

"Eventually," and Naruto said nothing more on the matter. The kids exchanged looks. Did they really want a Hokage who lets children stab him with kunai in charge of assigning their missions?

"So, sensei," Toshi began, trying to get the ball rolling, "now that we're gennin, are we going to start going on some really cool missions?"

"Of course we are!" Ringo exclaimed before Naruto could open his mouth. "I'm going to save some really fine women!"

"We need to train first!" Oki argued immediately, ignoring Ringo's sexist assumption that everyone who needs saving is a woman. "We're going to learn super intense jutsu, right sensei?"

Naruto paused a minute before answering; being addressed as 'sensei' was just too surreal for him.

"Actually, you're not genin yet..." He held up a hand to halt the protests that were about to tumble forth from their mouths. "I'm required to give you some kind of test to see if you have what it takes on the practical field. Whatever you accomplished in the academy means jack-shit from this point forward."

"A test?" Ringo's face dropped. "I hate tests."

"Oh, it's easy enough," Naruto assured him. He summoned three shadow clones and had them henge into a jaguar, a boar and a bear. "You just have to survive the next three hours without getting completely mauled by these animals. Stay within a mile of the vicinity or you'll be sent back to the academy."

"What the hell kind of a test is that!?" Oki screeched, backpedaling several steps as the black bear snarled at her.

"The fun kind! Don't worry; they won't leave the training grounds."

"But you said—"

"Go!" Naruto called and his clone-animals each shot off after a gennin. The kids scattered in different directions, all three taking to the tree tops to avoid the claws and teeth hot on their heels.

Naruto hopped down from his tree and walked farther into the open area of the training field. He wanted a good seat for this.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Oki gasped, trying desperately to catch her breath, and quietly slid around the base of a wide tree she was hiding behind. She'd read about using chakra to stick to bark and aid in tree-hopping. Unfortunately, the academy only taught them how to jump from branch to branch on their own physical prowess—and that wasn't a lot for her. Twenty minutes into the "test" and she was already back on the ground.

A one mile diameter was not a lot of room to avoid ferocious animals—she had run into the other two boys a handful of times already.

Suddenly the bear was in front of her, paw raised and ready to strike. Oki dived to the side, just missing having her head torn off by a hair's breath. She staggered to her feet, shaken at the close call, and stumbled into a ring of bushes. There was a clearing just on the other side of the woodland.

She was on the border of the training grounds, nearly out of bounds.

The bear was charging at her again and she didn't know how long she could keep dodging it. She always prided herself on being one of the fastest ninjas of her graduating class; but this bear was faster than any bear should be. It was unnatural.

"_All you have to do is leave the premises."_

Oki gasped and whirled around. There was no one there.

She turned back to face the bear, only to see it was gone. There was no time to sigh in relief; its hot breath against the back of her neck alerted her of its presence. She screamed at the shock and, in a sudden spurt of adrenaline, jumped onto a low hanging branch, safely out of the mammal's deadly reach.

Her respite was short lived. Somehow, in the next several seconds, the bear was up there with her, and Oki found what little advantage she had taken from her.

How could a bear suddenly—?

Oki could have slapped herself. As ferocious and believable the beast was, it was still her sensei. So it was a ninja-bear; there really was no escaping it by just running and dodging. She knew now that there was no possible way she'd be able to survive the next two and a half hours as she was.

But Naruto-sensei never said anything about not taking out the animals.

Reaching a hand into the pouch strapped to her left leg, she quickly tossed several shuriken in the direction of the beast. They all struck, but the bear kept charging, nimbly bouncing from branch to branch.

"_Don't waste weapons on non-lethal targets. You think someone can't still attack you after you've given them superficial wounds?"_

The bear wasn't talking. But it was still her sensei's voice floating around her head.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

It was dark and cool under the surface of the earth, a nice relief from the warm air above ground—and certainly a welcome vacation from the never-ending attack by his aggressor. The boar was strong and relentless; kunai didn't stop it, tripwires didn't slow it down, it simply broke through whatever barrier Ringo tried to throw between them using its sharp tusks and broad back.

An hour into the "test" and Ringo couldn't run in circles anymore. There was an annoying stitch in his side that pulled whenever he picked up pace and his ankle was sore and swollen from when the boar managed to clip his side.

Through his desperation, Ringo realized that what he needed was a safe place to rest. And where the boar couldn't find him, the boar couldn't attack him.'

This led him to hiding underground, just inches below the earth's surface. It was a basic technique all academy students were required to know...basic, but bloody useful in the situation of having your sensei disguised as a wild boar and chasing you.

He had all of twenty seconds to catch a few gulps of air before the ground around him exploded, exposing him to the towering boar who had somehow managed to release an earth-based attack.

"What the hell!" Ringo cried, scrambling to get out of the hole he dug. His pant leg got caught on a sharp rock in his haste and tore. The boar made an odd hacking noise...as if it were laughing.

"B-but y-y-you can't use hand signs!" the boy accused, pointing a shaking finger at the bristly-haired animal. He received no verbal supply, just a loud squeal and a charging pig. Ringo figured that several seconds of a break was as good as he was going to get and shot off into the trees again.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

_'This guy...it's like he's a machine...'_ Toshi thought, narrowing his eyes at the calm figure standing out in the open. Two minutes ago he ran into Oki, who was jumping around from branch to branch with a bear mere feet behind her—it was the bear bouncing around in the branches as well that really had him staring. He initially thought that he got the short end of the stick with the jaguar...now he was feeling bad for the girl.

After putting much effort into setting up traps as he escaped the feral cat, the jaguar finally fell victim to one. Toshi spent a moment torn about killing it or not. He knew that it was really a shadow clone, and if he killed it his sensei would know—and if his sensei knew, then he might have sent out a new one right away, whereas, if he left the beast tangled for a while, it would give him a chance to recuperate.

Perhaps it was the wrong decision; perhaps if he destroyed the clone that would be the end of his problems for the remaining time—but he knew next to nothing of this man's teaching methods, so it was a gamble he wasn't willing to take just yet.

Now Toshi sat high in the tree branches, eyeing the very man who was torturing them all. They never had any training as threatening and intense as this before in the academy.

This guy...he was completely relaxed, even after being stabbed, and using shadow clones to attack people in the most realistic henge Toshi had ever seen. He had already been clawed a few times by the jaguar—those nails were as real as they were deadly.

"Is this the power of a sage?" he whispered under his breath. Toshi was in the process of concocting the theory that a sage was not a ninja...it was something else entirely.

"_I'm not even in sage mode. You'll likely never see me in it. You're just humans, after all."_

Toshi shivered, and it wasn't due to the content of the words. The statement was spoken in a whisper, right next to his ear as if Naruto was standing right behind him. But Naruto-sensei was still standing out in the open; there was no one remotely close to him.

He swallowed a thick lump in his throat. If Naruto-sensei could see him—even hear him—from his hiding spot in the foliage, then he was probably capable of tracking his students from anywhere on the training field without even moving. It was terrifying to think such a deadly, invulnerable figure was inescapable.

Toshi came to the conclusion that there was no way he was going to survive this test.

"Hi-ya, hi-ya daddy!"

The tension in the air was shattered as a pig-tailed little girl came running onto the training field.

Naruto's impersonal expression was wiped from his face in an instant. He turned on the spot, adopting a delighted voice.

"Hey, Sweetie, what are you doing here?"

Toshi nearly fell out of the tree at the one-eighty in personality. Gone was the dangerous man who had seemed so untouchable; in his place stood a father pulling his daughter into an affectionate hug.

The gennin-to-be would have giggled if he hadn't heard the growl first. Then he felt something brushing the top of his head. Slowly, inch-by-inch, he turned his face upward, only to be greeted by the sight of the jaguar stretched out across the overhanging branch, its tail flicking back and forth as it locked its predatory gaze on him.

"Balls."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"I wanted to show you this!" Hitomi chirped above someone's shrieks of fear that suddenly emanated from the nearby left. She held out the headphones belonging to a red walkman.

Naruto regarded the set before gently taking them.

"Who's is this?"

"Keiji's."

Naruto looked up to see the aforementioned boy trudging up the path Hitomi left at a much slower pace, all the while looking rather disgruntled. Naruto got the feeling that he hadn't counted on Hitomi running off with his property.

No one would ever know it from first appearances, but Keiji and Hitomi were in fact friends. It was a healthy relationship of Hitomi forcing Keiji to endure her presence and Keiji putting up with Hitomi's quirks.

"Hey there Keiji," Naruto greeted.

"Hello Uzumaki-san," the boy replied as he reached the blonde pair. Naruto flicked him in the forehead once he was in arms reach.

"For the last time, it's just Naruto."

While Hitomi and Keiji were often as different as night and day, they were both given the same opportunity. The two children were offered to move ahead of their grade like so few before got to...Uchiha Itachi, Hatake Kakashi, Namikaze Minato...they were the prodigies of their generation while standing on opposite sides of the spectrum.

Keiji had a brilliant mind—not quite to the extent as Shikamaru—but still impressive for his age. His fighting was by the book yet precise and powerful. The boy was encouraged by both Kurenai and Shikamaru to further his career and expand his potential, so he followed his mother's advice and took the offer. He was now predicted to graduate in about two years.

Hitomi was meant to be a ninja herself; she was fast, light (despite how much she ate) and while her fighting methods could be viewed as unorthodox, she was good at using an opponent's own body against them. Naruto's personal training in controlling and harnessing her supernatural strength and reflexes left her quite a bit above the class in taijutsu.

Unfortunately, Konoha's ninja force wouldn't be getting two additions to its exalted body anytime soon. Hitomi wanted to stay with her friends; at seven years old, being a ninja wasn't about power and prestige for her, it was about having fun, and Naruto was completely fine with that. The more time he had before she was sent on missions, the less stress he would endure.

Kakashi was still nagging him about it to this day.

"Listen daddy, listen!" Hitomi insisted bossily.

"Okay, okay, sheesh..."

He brought the headset to his head and instantly heard a familiar voice chanting a generic rap tune to his ears.

"_I be runnin' from da ninjas,_

_They only wanna pin ya,_

_I'm down from eight, I gotta be quick,_

_Don't mess with me, or I'll cut you wit a stick!_

_Yeah, yeah! Imma cut you wit a stick!_

_Uh, yeah, mastodons! Come on!"_

Naruto mouthed out the words_"What the hell?" _as the ridiculous lyrics pounded from the earpieces. This wasn't about _his_ Stick, was it?

"What _is_ this?" Naruto asked, pulling the headphones away from his person and holding them at a safe distance.

"It's Killer-Bee-ojichan!" Hitomi answered brightly. "Duh! Hey, hey! Dad, can you get me my own tape?"

Naruto nearly did a double take.

"You actually _want_ to listen to this?!"

"Yee-aah! Everybody does!" his daughter announced loudly, throwing her hands in the air. "I want to get his autograph next time he comes here! Pleeeease! He's so cool!"

Naruto was completely stymied. It only got worse as Keiji stood next to his daughter, nodding in agreement. And this kid was supposed to be reasonable. Suddenly the corset and chaps weren't so worrying anymore; clearly the entirety of Konoha's youth was corrupted.

"Well..." he trailed weakly, "...I'm glad he's gotten his career off the ground...I think..."

"What's a mastodon?" Hitomi asked on impulse, taking the headphones back and reassembling them to her ears.

Naruto spared her a look.

"It's you, if you don't stop trying to eat me out of a house."

The girl crossed her eyes and frowned, trying to decide if that was a comment she should take offense to.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Oki was getting frustrated.

She was dirty, tired, covered in scratches, and now had a sprained wrist after the bear landed on her while descending from the treetops. Luckily she was able to replace herself with a fallen tree branch a few feet away, so that was the only injury she sustained...for now. But the damn bear had to weigh at least three hundred pounds and nearly broke her ribs as well!

That was what had her concerned at the moment; if it was just a henge, then it should only have weighed as much as her sensei. What if he had replaced himself with a real bear at one point?

That thought alone had her redoubling her effort to get away. In her exhaustion, she wasn't thinking clearly, so after dozens of zigzagging replacement justus pulled out of pure adrenaline, she realized that a real bear wouldn't be able to swing around like a ninja in the trees. Which brought her back to the it's-her-sensei theory.

The young girl took several gulps of air, staggering tiredly against some trees, knowing that if she used any more chakra she'd definitely be out of the game. She should have known her limit better than this...but never before had she been pushed this hard. The academy rarely used fear as a motivation which, now that she thought about it, didn't make sense. How else was she supposed to know how to operate under stressful conditions?

"_Careful..."_

Oki 'eeped' and jumped forward, turning to find—not her sensei (as she knew better than to expect that by now)—but, for the second time, the property line that marked another edge of training grounds 17. She almost crossed over it in her fatigue, which would have led to a subsequent fail.

"How...how can you still see me?" Oki asked aloud. The bear wasn't near her at the moment; neither was her sensei or her teammates—she was probably at the farthest corner of the training ground, totally isolated. So then...

"_I don't need my eyes to see you."_

"How?" Oki whispered. "You're not a Hyuuga...you're not..."

"_Nature is a more powerful entity..."_

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"...than any bloodline limit," Naruto cryptically replied, sending the answer into the thick maze of leaves that his genin was hidden in. He was rather impressed with the kids so far. It was obvious that their only opponents before this were either other academy students or their teachers, but given the sudden attack and the harsh dose of reality, none of them had given up yet.

"Who are you talking to?" Keiji asked. He had surrendered trying to get the walkman from Hitomi. Right now she was in the middle of her "stomp-stomp" dance.

It mostly consisted of stomping in a circle.

"I'm using the wind to carry messages," Naruto explained. Keiji always tried to maintain a calm image, but his face betrayed his awe.

"Wind is the strongest!" Hitomi cheered—louder than she probably intended due to the thunderous music warping her volume judgment. She continued with her parade.

"Wind has a weakness just like every other element," the boy informed her, knowing she could still hear him. She had and chose to stick out her tongue as an intelligent form of response.

"Yes," Naruto agreed. "It's true that each element has strengths and weaknesses against each other, but wind...wind has the potential to overpower any other element. If you know what you're doing."

"Even against fire?"

A new voice joined their group.

"Especially against fire," Naruto grinned, turning to face Shikamaru.

"Heeey, Lazy-Daisy!" Hitomi greeted the tall man, waving herself out of a never-ending twirl before falling on her butt. Shikamaru stared bleakly at the giggling child who was evidently high on life.

"Uh...hey, Hitomi..." he stared at the girl's father, who could offer no clarification.

"Never mind her," Naruto sighed. "So what brings you here?"

"Huh? Oh, right. Oi, Keiji, your mother wants you home now," the pony-tailed man addressed the young boy, revealing the purpose to his appearance.

"Already?" Keiji pouted. He may have tried to act mature around kids his own age, but he was still seven years old and every bit as puerile. Shikamaru would have none of it.

"Yes, already. She's got dinner ready."

"Huh...is it that time already?" Naruto muttered to himself, looking to the sun. It was nearing five; he should probably get Hitomi fed soon.

"Are you coming too?" Keiji asked his mentor. Shikamaru schooled his face to show indifference.

"Maybe," he said with a casual shrug. Had they been there, the academy girls would have been squealing about how "cool" Shikamaru-sempai was.

"Most likely," Naruto corrected, to which Shikamaru gave a subtle, rude gesture.

Shikamaru had been going steady with Temari for so long that everyone assumed they would end up marrying. It was in a surprising turn of events that their relationship turned tremulous over the last year before falling apart. These days speculation was going around as to some sort of affair between Shikamaru and Kurenai, mostly due to the amount of time they spent together. It didn't help that Shikamaru was the closest thing Keiji had to a father. For the civilian women of Konoha, it was a scandalous notion that Asuma's prize student had taken bed with his former lover. Those hens were probably the ones who fueled the rumors in the first place.

Rumors or not, Naruto thoroughly believed that there might actually be something going on between the two of them.

"Uh, Naruto, is that one of your new genin?"

Ringo had just stumbled out of the woods, pieces of his clothes were torn and missing, his face was blackened with ash, and there were light burns shining the top of his head. Naruto had to wonder which of his animals breathed fire, or if Ringo actually managed to light _himself_ on fire.

"Yep!" the blonde said cheerily before calling out to the boy: "In through the nose, out through the mouth! It will help with the cramping!"

"I hate you already!" Ringo yelled back before quickly disappearing back into the forest as the boar came squealing out of the foliage after him, tusks gleaming in the sunlight.

Another shriek sounded in opposite direction, this one very feminine. It could have easily been Toshi or Oki.

"Who're they?" Hitomi asked from the ground, curiously tilting her head to get a better glimpse of the smoking genin that appeared briefly.

"My new chew toys."

Shikamaru shook his head in dubiety.

"Are you actually going to torture these kids just to make a point to Kakashi that you don't want to have a genin team?"

"Who said I didn't want a genin team?" Naruto asked rhetorically, "This is a character building exercise. All they have to do is leave the training grounds and the animals will dispel."

"But if they do that then they fail, right?"

"Yep."

"For three hours?"

Naruto scratched the back of his neck and sported his customary sheepish grin, "Ya' heard that did you?"

"Really?" Shikamaru pressed.

"Sure. Or until one of them starts crying."

Keiji was quick to point out: "Ninjas don't cry."

"I cry," Naruto said frankly. The young boy stared at him.

"It's true," Hitomi added.

"Thank you, sweetie."

Shikamaru knew a lost cause when he saw one. Or two.

"Troublesome," he muttered, absently fiddling with the lighter in his pocket, "Keiji, come on, your mom is expecting you now."

"Fine..." Keiji sighed. He looked expectantly at Hitomi. She stared right back.

"Tomi, give him back his walkman," Naruto commanded.

"Aww," the girl moped but did as her father instructed, "will you get me some of Killer-Bee-ojichan's music?"

"I make no promises."

As much as he liked Kirabi, Naruto really didn't need something that would surely administer a permanent headache on him.

The Nara heir had already started on his way off the field, so he didn't see Naruto's shoulders seize up, but he did hear the sharp, hitch of breath, and that stopped him in his tracks.

Shikamaru looked back to the other man, "Naruto? What—?"

"Hey, do you think you can drop Hitomi off at my apartment too?" Naruto blurted out suddenly, "I need to talk to Kakashi real quick."

"Dad! I can take myself home," Hitomi immediately complained, "I'm not a—"

"No." Naruto cut her off. He seemed distracted; almost worried.

Shikamaru frowned, knowing that something important must have just come to pass for Naruto to openly express distress.

"Sure," the pony-tailed man replied slowly. He gently placed a hand on the back of each seven year old and ushered them off the training grounds. He was sure that whatever the problem was, he'd hear about it from Kakashi later.

As the trio left the area, Naruto sent a mental message to his clones, issuing them to release the henge and return the kids to the starting point. Seconds later three worse-for-wear genin were unceremoniously dumped back in the clearing.

"Right," Naruto clapped his hand, garnering their attention, "Well, times up. You guys pass. I gotta talk to the Hokage now."

Oki was holding her head, not understanding how she suddenly went from dodging a bear claw to sitting back where she started.

"W-w-w-w-wait!" she gasped, pushing the dizziness down to stagger to her feet, "Why did you pass us? We didn't win!"

"You didn't lose either," Naruto replied over his shoulder as he continued on his way, "Meet me here tomorrow at seven. And make sure you eat breakfast, you'll need your strength."

Toshi was still huffing and puffing with his arms akimbo, barely able to stand let alone further question his sensei. Then again, the man was already gone.

"Is it...too late to become...a samurai?" he gasped. The freaking Jaguar was the fastest out of all the animals. Why did it have to go after him?

"Yes, yes it is. We know too much," Ringo whispered, scratching at the oily patch on his arm that he knew would blossom into a poison ivy rash if he didn't get to a shower. Toshi lowered himself to his knees and glared at him.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I...have no idea. But right now I really wish I got to stab him with a kunai too."

Oki was inclined to agree, "There's always tomorrow."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Kakashi rested his chin on the heel of his hand as he zoned out on the line of Hokage portraits. As expected, each picture depicted a stern, austere expression, giving the impression that every Hokage took his or her job quite seriously. But the picture only displayed the Hokage within it, not the person his or her friends and family knew them as. Kakashi didn't know the Shodaime or Nidaime personally, but he did know that Hiruzen rarely looked as grim-faced as the man within the frame, the crow's feet around his eyes were testament to that, and Minato-sensei usually wore his trademark, mischievous grin. Tsunade's picture revealed nothing of her gambling, alcoholic nature; she appeared somber yet striking. She was fortunate enough to have her picture taken before the stroke occurred; the village's reputation was fortunate enough that the bottom of the picture cut off just below her neck.

Perhaps he should have his done in advance as well before something happens and he finds himself without his mask. Hopefully it wouldn't be too long before he could leave the post himself.

Kakashi desperately wanted Naruto to take over the Hokage position; he felt he had it unfairly thrown on him in an effort to save face and now that the whirlwind had died down he was left with an unwanted burden. He had hoped it would be temporary—that as soon as Naruto got settled down and Hitomi became more independent, the jinchuuriki could afford to focus more on the community and accept the position.

Naruto was definitely marked down as the next Hokage; the ninja knew it, his council knew it, and the village knew it. The man had all the qualities a Hokage needed; he had the power, the compassion, and, as much as he tried to act otherwise, the maturity. In fact, Kakashi, at 36 years old, wanted nothing more than to take on some B to A ranked missions and only worry about matters a week in advance at the most. More action and less decision-making was becoming a rather appealing lifestyle. Unfortunately, Naruto realized this as well before Kakashi could convince him to take over, so now the Hokage was left not-so-subtly bringing up the subject in every conversation between the two.

Maybe Kakashi should take a leaf out of Naruto's book and try to annoy the other man into taking over.

Even if his history of accomplishments looked good on the resume, Naruto had built up a reputation over the last few years of being...flaky. He did what he wanted, "sleeping" in trees half the day, negotiating for his own missions—refusing to take ones that lasted more than a week, and appeared to be in his own little world most of the time.

However, Kakashi was probably the only person in the village who knew the true extent of what Naruto did for the village. Most saw him as the powerful sage and jinchuuriki who all but retired from the shinobi career. They had no idea that he was the one who discovered the plant Iwa had stationed within their ranks for the last two decades, stopping the long overlooked leak of information quite efficiently and silently.

Nor was anyone aware that Naruto singlehandedly stopped Cloud from obtaining the byakugan for the third time. It was purely coincidence that Cloud-nins came across Hyuuga Hanabi's team in Bird Country, but the aggressor saw an opportunity in the chance meeting and, in a last ditch effort to nab the byakugan, kidnapped the young Hyuuga. Naruto had learned of the botched mission before word got back to the village and he had made it to the scene in no time, taking care of the band of the enemy ninja. Because of the efficiency at which the situation was handled, the girl's brief kidnapping never reached the public.

Naruto even ended up taking a detour on the way home and paid Kumogakure a personal visit just to give the Raikage a piece of his mind about keeping his ninja under control. The wild blonde went so far as to allude that he knew of Kirabi's whereabouts and would take out their greatest weapon if they didn't lay off the Hyuuga clan for good.

It was a bluff of course; Naruto would never do that to a fellow Jinchuuriki. But all Cloud heard was that the nine-tails was going to whoop the eight-tails, so they signed a non-aggression pact.

This was why Kakashi allowed Naruto to act on his own; the man's secret but powerful humanitarian acts were done at his own discretion and came with significant benefits to the village—even when said village was none the wiser. Naruto rarely waited for approval, which normally would pose a problem in a kage-ninja relationship, but Kakashi felt he was allowed to be lenient with someone who was exponentially more powerful than himself and due to be Hokage anyway.

"Kakashi—"

The Hokage lazily moved his sight on the very man plaguing his thoughts who had just walked through the double door.

"Ah, Naruto," Kakashi nodded in acknowledgement. "So how do you like your new team?"

Naruto stopped short, the purpose in his step diminished somewhat as if he were caught off guard by the question.

"I like 'em," he answered slowly. "I mean...they're nothing like ours was, I can tell you that. They all get along with each other. And I think they've got a sense of humor."

Kakashi made a noncommittal noise deep within his throat and Naruto got the distinct impression that the man was waiting for something specific. He shifted awkwardly, suddenly feeling like a new genin himself in front of his sensei.

"Did they pass your test?" the Hokage asked after a minute of scrutinizing his guest.

"Yep."

"Did you do the bell test? I know Sakura did, and like team 7 they only managed to pass on their last leg."

"Uh, yeah," Naruto said slowly, "something like that."

"Really?" Kakashi looked misleadingly surprised. "Because I have it from a source that you had a bunch of animals maul the kids."

"What?" the blonde scoffed, trying to look outraged. "Who's making such accusations?"

"Their parents," Kakashi deadpanned.

The scorned look dropped, and Naruto raised his eyebrows, impressed, "Wow, that was fast."

"Naruto..." Kakashi began to admonish. Naruto threw his palms up before the reproach could get rolling.

"There's a method to my madness, I swear!"

"And that would be?"

"I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because then it wouldn't be my madness."

Kakashi put down his pen and rubbed his temples in systematic, circular motions. He almost preferred Naruto from a few years ago when everything was still hectic. At least then he too stressed with the hardships of raising a toddler and keeping the Akatsuki at bay to be anything but serious. Now he was turning into some semblance of the man Kakashi initially expected him to be. Maybe it was good, maybe it was a sign of healing, but Naruto was going to drive him up the wall with his "madness".

The gray-haired man was certain it was because Naruto spent too much time with his head in the clouds—that was partly why he wanted him focusing on more terrestrial matters.

"I'll trust you...for now," Kakashi issued, picking up his writing utensil once more and taking a neglected stack of approval forms to his attention. "But I want those genin to remain in one piece for at least a month.

"Month. Got it."

"Now what did you primarily come here for?"

"Sasuke's coming."

Kakashi's pen slipped in the middle of signing a document, leaving a zigzagging, unprofessional ink mark across the content. Both he and Naruto stared at the unintentional botch for a prolonged moment in complete silence. Finally, Kakashi found his voice again.

"He's coming to Konoha?"

"Yes."

"But not to move back..."

"No."

"Hn..." Kakashi pushed the stack of papers away from him once more. He wasn't going to get any work done tonight. "So it's come to this already, huh? How long do we have?"

"He should be here in a couple hours."

Kakashi jumped from his seat, his hands slammed down on the desk almost hard enough to leave a dent.

"And you tell me this now?" Kakashi snapped, getting ready to signal the nearby ANBU. Naruto reached across the desk and caught his wrist before he could even make the hand sign.

"I just found out," Naruto replied calmly. The serene manner in which Naruto was facing this problem meant he was taking the matter seriously...and anything he took seriously without cracking a joke meant he was actually worried.

Kakashi decided to give Naruto the benefit of the doubt. If he wasn't panicking yet then perhaps he had a plan or there was something that had not yet been revealed.

"Alright...and how did he get so far without you noticing?"

"Heh," a nostalgic smiled wormed its way onto Naruto's face. "He is a genius, ya know. It's been a while; I really shouldn't have expected anything less from him."

"And am I correct in expecting that you'll go to confront him alone?"

"Yes—"

Naruto stopped short and audibly groaned as he sensed two approaching auras. He detected Tsunade nearby in the attached study a bit earlier. He had no qualms about her finding out about Sasuke's advance.

But then she left without coming in to add her two cents; he should have realized what she was doing.

Sure enough, in walked Tsunade followed by Sakura.

Predictably, the first words out of Sakura's mouth were: "Sasuke's coming?"

Naruto meant to send Tsunade a dark look for bringing him more problems than he needed, but he grudgingly acknowledged that it would be better to get this out of the way now rather than having Sakura run out there after him and get hurt.

Naruto grunted and refused to look at the final component of his genin team. Instead, he addressed Kakashi, "As I was saying: I think you should mobilize your ninja, but keep them far away. I won't let him get close to Konoha, but just incase have walls to the west heavily guarded."

Kakashi nodded. He wished he could be there too, even if it was just to see his old student. Or maybe it was morbid curiosity that drove the desire; the potential horror at what Sasuke could have possibly become in all these years. Either way, it was for reasons like this that he wanted Naruto to take over as Hokage already...and it was for reasons like this that Naruto hadn't.

"Have Sakura go with you—" Kakashi began.

"No."

Tsunade tried to reason next, "Naruto—"

"No." he repeated, face still reading stoicism.

"We're supposed to do this together!" Sakura finally snapped. He wouldn't look at her and it made her sick; she thought she had gotten it through his head that it was him she cared about. Right now she didn't know if she was angrier with Naruto or Sasuke.

"No, we were supposed to bring him _back_ together," Naruto corrected. "I'm not bringing him back."

Sakura bit her lip, "You think I don't know that? I know, okay? And I'm prepared to face what he's become; I'm prepared to kill him if I have to, all by your side. How many times do I have to prove to you that I'm not weak!"

"This isn't about you being weak Sakura!" Naruto's voice rose, trying to overpower her argument. He took a deep breath. "I know you're not. But Sasuke is not okay—not mentally or emotionally. He doesn't care anymore, alright? He has nothing to hold him back...not even common sense. He'll show no restraint. He came here to destroy Konoha and if you get in his way he'll obliterate you. You won't find any hesitation on his part."

Tsunade and Kakashi were both sitting quite still, switching bewildered looks from one young adult to the other. All Sakura heard was the same case she was trying to dissuade—that she wasn't on par with either of them.

"You're just being proud!" she growled. "I know I'm not as powerful as you, alright? I know that. But, seriously, no one is. This is about your pride and you know it! You want to finish what you couldn't back at the Valley!"

A barrage of emotions flashed across Naruto's visage, ranging from hurt to rage before finally settling on conviction.

"No you're the one being proud," he turned back on her. "Do you think I _want_ to do this? Do you really think this is about proving something? I am about to go out there and kill him, my first friend, right now, and you will stay_ here _where it's safe. Sasuke brought his friends; I'll need you to deal with them if they escape. Stay on the front line with the ANBU and wait until one of them breaks past me. I can't keep my eye on Konoha for this."

Naruto was giving Kakashi's ninja orders—a line he, until now, hadn't crossed yet—and it was the fact that he spoke with such assurance, as though he didn't expect anything but obedience, that kept the Hokage from calling him out on it.

Sakura's mouth was working wordlessly as Naruto made to leave, as if that was that, "Do you hear yourself, you idiot!? Forget about me—what if you get hurt? I'll be too far away to heal you!"

The sage opened his mouth to ask when the last time she saw him hurt was before closing it with a shake of his head.

"Tsunade...watch over Hitomi for me, will you?" he asked, choosing to ignore the question altogether.

"O-of course," Tsunade was rather confused by the pace at which all of this was happening.

"Naruto! Don't ignore me!" Sakura snapped.

"I'd round your ninja up asap," Naruto addressed Kakashi next, "Even if I leave now, we'll still be in view of the village by the time I reach them, and that's dangerous enough."

Kakashi nodded slowly and finally signaled his personal ANBU.

"Damn it, Naruto!" the rosette barked, stalking after him with a furious purpose. She caught up with him in less than a second, but before she could reach out to him, Naruto unexpectedly spun on the spot and gripped her outstretched arm tightly.

"_I. Said. Stay,"_ he hissed. His eyes narrowing dangerously and, for a brief moment, connected with her startled green ones before he released her just as suddenly and shushined out of her sight. Sakura stood frozen on the spot for several following seconds, absently massaging her bruising skin as she processed something.

It was the first time, in a long time, that she had seen fear in his expression.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

I'm not gunna lie to you: Naruto is a hippie. Adults get sillier with age, lesson learned from my own parents. Or maybe I'm just seeing them more for who they are as people...either way I know nothing but insanity and it reflects on what I write.

I figured if Naruto-verse has computer screens and tvs, then it at least has walkmans. God I miss those. And I miss the 90s.

And I'm not going to have any team 7 repeats or bell tests or likes/dislikes etc. etc. You read 'em one you read 'em a thousand times. I also tire of describing people, so if you really care about what team 5 looks like, it's on my deviantart account, crappy as hell. Homepage.

Thanks to **Cat Foxgloves** for editing and telling me how to spell genin (I am quite foolish) and MegaB, who has become my secret beta and manages to make me feel like English is my second languag. And thank you everyone who reviews, you know I love love.

**Next chap**: well, I don't think I need to tell you.


	23. The Wayward Flame

**Chapter 23**

"Baa-chan, what's going on?" Hitomi asked her self-proclaimed grandmother after the woman finished speaking privately to Kurenai and Shikamaru.

Hitomi had been invited to eat at Keiji's after Shikamaru escorted her from training grounds 17, but halfway into their dinner of domburi and yakitori they had been interrupted—first by the uproar of several people shouting outside, then by Tsunade-baachan suddenly dropping in.

It was odd; she had taken the adults to another room and they spoke in quiet voices, leaving her and Keiji to sit at the table, at a loss. Hitomi suspected there must have been a privacy jutsu around the room they were speaking in, for even she couldn't catch anything that was exchanged. But when they returned Kurenai was biting her lip and Shikamaru had picked up a lot of tension around his shoulders, so it couldn't have been good.

Tsunade looked down at the young girl who asked the question. The big blue eyes and twitching whiskered cheeks revealed the same openness that she used to see in Naruto. She wasn't surprised by the greeting; not only did she just interrupt dinner at Kurenai's apartment, but the commotion of ninjas running back and forth, moving into position and ushering civilians from their homes to the retreat in the mountain face, must have been alarming for Hitomi and Keiji. Until now, there had yet to be an immediate threat to Konoha's village in their lifetime.

"A man is coming, and he wants to hurt Konoha," she gently explained to the two wide-eyed seven year olds. After a moment she added, "He used to be a friend of your father, Tomi."

"Sasuke Uchiha," Keiji stated automatically. None of the adults were surprised that Keiji knew the name; he sometimes studied the history of Konoha's ninja force in his spare time. Hitomi often called him a nerd for it.

"That sounds familiar..." Hitomi mused aloud before it hit her. Stories of her dad's genin team days came to mind within seconds. Her father said that they were once best friends in a weird way, that their rivalry got out of hand, and that the man betrayed Konoha, refusing to come back. This Sasuke joined the bad people who wanted to hurt her daddy.

All present at the Yuuhi household witnessed the rare sight of seeing Hitomi completely serious.

"Is dad going to fight him now?" she asked, looking straight at Tsunade. The woman nodded.

"And he'd like you to be in Bassai just in—"

"NO!" Hitomi shouted, pulling herself up so she was kneeling on her seat, gaining some extra height. "I'm staying here with dad!"

"The battle is too close to the village," Kurenai spoke up, trying to come off as soothing as possible. "All civilian and academy students are being evacuated just in case."

She walked over to Keiji's chair and pet his hair, "I want the two of you to stay with Tsunade-sama."

Keiji nodded silently. Hitomi still looked cross.

"Playing defense and offense at the same time is not an ideal tactic for battle," Shikamaru supplied. "He'll have a better chance of winning if he knows you're safe and can concentrate on fighting."

"Come on, Hitomi," Tsunade pushed, holding out a hand to the stubborn girl. Hitomi knew there really wasn't any point to fighting her; Baa-chan could take her by force if she really wanted. Heaving a loud sigh, the blonde slipped from her chair and accepted the hand. Keiji took a hold of the other and they were ushered to the door.

"Where are you going, mom?" Keiji asked before Tsunade was able to take him out of the apartment.

Kurenai smiled with as much assurance as she could muster.

"I'm still a ninja, dear; I'll be fighting if I need to."

"I'll keep her safe," Shikamaru promised, looking at Kurenai as he spoke. She returned the look with a grateful smile. Female pride aside, if it helped Keiji feel at ease she'd accept the offer.

It seemed good enough for Keiji. He gave the most prominent male model of his life a nod before allowing himself to be holed away for the duration of the threat.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

From the raised stretch of land on which he was standing, Naruto could make out several black specks crawling along the outer wall of Konoha. It was the distance that made Konoha's ninja appear little more than ants—all congregating into a strong line—and yet, the same distance was far too short if he could see them at all. One powerful attack falling through his defenses is all it would take and Konoha would be endangered.

But that would never happen; his baby girl was in there.

Relishing in the cool breeze sifting through the hair on the back of his neck, Naruto experienced a brief déjà vu of the cold serenity he felt just before engaging Pein. He wouldn't lose and he didn't expect to. Sasuke wasn't Pein; he was formidable, but he was human. Naruto only feared the gods, and the Earth, and, on the occasion, the unknown.

"Let's get one thing straight here Sasuke..." Naruto spoke into the empty air, never turning around, never tearing his gaze from the village. "I do not want to be here. I can think of a good twenty things I'd rather be doing right now, most of which involve lying down. So I'm going to make this quick, and then I'm going to forget you. I have no tolerance for you any more."

Knowing they were detected, four individuals leapt from the trees, landing in the open about thirty feet behind him. Naruto kept his eyes fixated on his treasure.

If Sasuke found his old comrade's words out of character, he didn't show it. His Sharingan told him that Naruto was leeching from a greater chakra source than his own from the thick chakra trail leading back to somewhere near the village.

"_You_ tolerate _me_? You? The idiot who wasted how many years following me around like a pathetic puppy? You were worse than Sakura."

"You..." Sasuke waited for the rebuttal, but Naruto seemed to trail off before shaking his head and finally turning around to face him. Gold eyes locked with deep red. "...Are lucky she's not around to hear that."

There was movement: Suigetsu's hand flew to Kubikiri Houcho just as Sasuke grabbed his arm, halting the draw.

Sasuke spoke in his low, grave voice, "This isn't your fight. You are here to take care of distractions."

Snarling, Suigetsu ripped his arm out of the cold man's grip.

"No way! I don't take orders from you!"

Sasuke took his eyes off his target for the purpose of staring down the water-wielder. His Mangekyo Sharingan spun fiercely.

"Stand back."

Juugo looked on in shock as Suigetsu fell to the ground, no doubt trapped in some illusion to keep him out of the way. He immediately picked the smaller man up using only one arm and looked at Sasuke with an unreadable expression.

"Get him out of here," Sasuke ordered, giving a single nod to Karin and Juugo, "Both of you—stay out of the way until this is finished. I shouldn't be too long."

Juugo paused, debating if he should stand his ground or not. He was rarely defiant, but he also didn't approve of Sasuke's methods. He also managed to develop a small amount of control over his cursed seal form over the last few years...so he didn't _need_ Sasuke...

A smooth, feminine hand rested on his forearm.

"Come on," Karin said delicately, tugging the large man towards a safer location. She paused herself, giving her former lover a troubled stare. "Sasuke...he's connected himself to some sort of clone...and the clone is anchored to a chakra source within the Earth; it's feeding this chakra directly into him. You...you can't outlast him."

Telling him this would have made little difference. Deep down she knew he didn't plan for this fight to last long anyway, but it was the only contribution she could make. If Sasuke didn't defeat the man before them then none of them would be able to either. Even Suigetsu would have to admit that.

The Uchiha gave no indication that he had heard her, so she continued on her semi retreat and followed Juugo.

Sasuke and Naruto remained in a silent, locked gaze until the other three humans were clear of the area. Once again, Naruto broke the silence first.

"I feel like I'm obliged to ask you why you're doing this so suddenly...though I know the reason won't change the outcome of this battle."

Sasuke raised a thin eyebrow at the quasi-question. He hadn't spoken to Naruto for so many years—he knew that Naruto specialized in his connections around the world, and therefore had kept some sort of tab on him, but, conversely, Sasuke had almost nothing on Naruto.

Nothing useful anyway.

Naruto never once attempted to bring him back to Konoha—not even when he proved that he could defeat Pein did he try. It was too weird for Sasuke.

What happened to the bumbling braggart he once knew so well? What happened to the boy who so desperately tried to salvage their "bond"?

The man before him appeared as both confident and reserved. Any other day, Sasuke may have reacted with insult to Naruto showing such nonchalance to his hostile presence, but the lack of aggression was making it hard for Sasuke to carry on with his callous attitude.

"I'm about to destroy your village and yet you show almost no concern," Sasuke commented softly, trying to get a rise out of the other man—if only to seek out familiarity for his own comfort. Naruto lowered his head and smiled, knowing exactly what Sasuke was trying to do.

"Why would I be concerned about you?" he asked in clear rhetoric. "You're still the same, impulsive child that left the village ten years ago. Apparently Orochimaru gave you power and nothing else. But that was all you wanted, wasn't it? How did that work out for you?"

Against his will to appear unaffected, Sasuke's lip curled above his incisors.

"Don't pretend you don't know," he growled. "And don't pretend you don't know why I'm here. I'm going to finish what Madara started; I'm going to show Konoha exactly what they were asking for when they ordered the death of my family. You will know what pain I went through soon enough when I take it all away from you!"

The demon in Naruto reared at the insinuation that his child was in danger. It was only his rational, human side reminding him that Sasuke would never make it within a mile of the village that calmed him. Holding tight to that cool façade, Naruto patted the area over his heart.

"Oh woe is me; my entire family was killed off..." the skin around Naruto's eyes tightened as he dropped the act. He couldn't stop the words that bubbled up out of his throat; a decade of resentment had finally found its opportunity to come forth. "Sasuke, will you do us all a favor and GET THE FUCK OVER YOURSELF? This is a ninja world, you idiot, _everyone has a tragic past__!_ Everyone! Everyone loses their family, or freedom, or life or whatever else they're trying to hold onto. Fuck! You are the most selfish bastard I have ever met! It's all about you, isn't it? I swear—if I have to hear you bitch about your "_tragic past"_ one more time—!"

"Fuck you, Naruto!" Sasuke screamed back but Naruto cut him off.

"No, Sasuke, fuck _you!_ I've been hearing the same thing from you for the last ten years! Yes, what happened to you was not fair, but Konoha did what it had to in order to protect itself. Just like Itachi did what he had to in order to protect you—!"

"**Shut! Up!"**

"Just like I'm doing what I have to in order to protect Konoha! To protect Hitomi. Why do you think we keep beating you?"

"Naruto—!" Again, Naruto wouldn't let Sasuke get more than a word out.

"We have something to protect," he answered to his own question. "You are selfish, Sasuke. You will never beat us because you're using hate as a motivation. Your brother was a genius, but he was an idiot too. There were a hundred different—kinder, better—ways to get you strong enough to protect yourself than shoving mistaken ideals on you for motivation."

"I—"

"He fucked up," Naruto stated as he winded down, "And now you're fucked up. Woe."

After all his attempts to get his word in during the blonde's tirade, Sasuke was left with nothing to say. Deep down he knew the other man had a point; but he didn't want to hear it, not after all these years trying to forge his own path. So he blocked out what he could, holding onto his staple emotion of injustice and anger, and his hatred for the man before him spiked. Someone who could talk so casually of losing a family clearly didn't appreciate that sort of pain well enough.

"Don't talk about what you don't understand," Sasuke's bangs were shielding his eyes, the ominous sound of metal sliding against its sheath as a sword was released alerted Naruto to Kusanagi's presence in Sasuke's hand. It wasn't the same sword Naruto last saw Sasuke wield—this one was once Orochimaru's. This one was legendary.

Naruto made no move to shift into a defensive position. Stick was left in the village for its own protection; Naruto knew what jutsu there was a good chance of encountering, and he knew that Stick would never survive it, protective seals or no.

"I'm stronger than you Sasuke," he stated as if he were reading the man's rights in trial. "If you fight me, you will die. I can't allow you to exist if you're a threat to my family and village."

_'But you already know that, don't you?'_ the rest of the sentence passed silently through his mind before Naruto could recognize it as his own thought.

"If there's one thing I learned from Madara, it's to never leave unfinished business before you die," Sasuke stated, expertly swinging the blade with rhythmic motions of his wrist.

"Still looking for lessons from the wrong people," Naruto commented.

"Still preaching hot air," Sasuke returned.

And then they moved.

Sasuke was in front of Naruto before the other had taken two steps, displaying all the grace and talent that was expected of an Uchiha genius.

Sasuke had the superior taijutsu—both of them knew it. If it wasn't for Naruto's superhuman abilities, he would have had superior speed as well. But Naruto was always physically stronger, even before he absorbed the Kyuubi, and without the natural energy or Kyuubi's chakra, Naruto still had greater chakra reserves. Speed and finesse in opposition to raw power...

There was a time when they would have been equally matched, but that time had passed.

Both men were well enough versed in combat not to telegraph their reactions—they kept their breathing even, their muscles relaxed, their eyes focused and unwavering. Naruto was limber and flexible; despite Sasuke's flawless execution of his onrush, despite the synchronized balance between kenjutsu and taijutsu, Naruto managed to counteract much of Sasuke's offense—not due to his own skill in taijutsu, but out of dexterity.

"You're not attacking." Sasuke noted while thrusting his sword towards Naruto's midsection within a fluid set of motions. His breathing wasn't even arduous in the face of the relentless speed in his aggression.

"You don't want me to attack," Naruto twisted his body and arched his back; the sword passed through air just behind his lumbar vertebrae. "I'm stronger than you."

"Maybe," A sandaled foot lifted to side-swipe a knee-cap; a bare foot knocked it back down by catching the instep, "maybe not." Sasuke struck Naruto between the sixth and seventh right rib with the pinky-side of his unyielding hand. The blow managed to knock Naruto off balance—only for a second, but a second was all he needed. Steel glinted in the sunlight as Kusanagi swung down on the exposed tissue of Naruto's neck, set on decapitation, "But your flesh isn't stronger than my sword!"

On instinct, Naruto brought his arm up and Kusanagi—the sword fabled to cut through anything—was jarred to a stop, buried halfway into Naruto's ulna.

"Your sword isn't stronger than my bones," Naruto countered to Sasuke's frozen face.

"How—?!"

"Demon," Naruto chirped merrily before kicking the traitor in the stomach and dislodging the sword from his arm. Heavy splats of blood embellished the ground like modern art.

Sasuke would have loved to use that moment to throw Naruto into a genjutsu, maybe keep him occupied with Tsukuyomi and use that advantage to prove just how fallible a demon could be. But this sage ability of Naruto's had him thoroughly grounded to reality. And when someone was as protected by the Earth as his former friend was, then he was untouchable.

The Earth!

Slamming the sharp end of his Kusanagi into the compact dirt between his feet, Sasuke cried, "**Chidori Nagashi!**"

White-hot electricity shot through the ground in wild and erratic spurts, grabbing a hold of the chakra accessing Naruto to nature and jolting the connection rather harshly.

"_Ahhhh_-ha-ha-ha!" Naruto's shout of shock quickly dissolved into giggles as he used his element of choice to negate the electric current before any paralyzing affects could set in—it wasn't too hard; wind naturally trumped lightning. His knees buckled as the muscles in his legs quivered from the sting. "Oooh-ho-ho, man, look at my legs! They're all numb and...it feels so tingly and...funny...he he..."

It was like hitting his funny bone only in his legs. It kind of hurt, but he couldn't stop giggling.

"Goddamn it," Sasuke snapped. "Will you take this seriously!?"

The overhead daylight reflecting off of Kusanagi was almost blinding as the dark-haired man twirled it around. Covering the small distance that grew between them over the last minute, Sasuke lunged, using Naruto's minutely weakened state to his advantage and propelling his sword forward in a killing strike. The blonde was able to regain some footing at the last second.

With a sharp bullet of air centered at the hub of his palm, Naruto took the attack head on—limb to weapon—and the legendary Kusanagi was defeated as the sharpened element tore through the expertly crafted metal.

To anyone standing more than ten feet away, it would appear as if Sasuke's sword shattered upon coming into contact with Naruto's hand, none the wiser to the sage's finesse with wind.

Sasuke's momentum carried his sword through Naruto's defense, breaking the entire length into billions of glinting shards. Like a one-two punch, Naruto thrust his other hand forward, blasting the fragments back towards the former sword's wielder with a powerful burst of air.

"Arrgh!" Sasuke screamed as he was impaled by hundreds upon hundreds of Kusanagi bits. Blood spurted from every wound, drenching the front of his cloak with dark fluid.

As Sasuke staggered back, Naruto took the moment to survey his actions. He found no pleasure in physically hurting the man, no matter how many times in his life he just wanted to shake him for being so stupid.

"You...you bastard..." Blood leaked between the cracks of Sasuke's teeth. It wasn't very attractive.

"It's your weapon," Naruto stated, like that would rid him of any blame. He shuffled backwards, stumbling a few times as his legs still felt a bit jellied. Fortunately, it was a sensation that was fading quick.

Unfortunately, his offhand comment did nothing to calm down the quickly-slipping Uchiha.

Energy crackled around Sasuke and the air between them began to heat up—a sweltering humidity that made it difficult for Naruto to breath. The young sage knew what was coming next and all mirth he may have picked up throughout their brief stint melted away, only to be replaced by dread.

The moment had come—the moment to test his ultimate defense against the Sharingan.

"It ends now, Naruto," Sasuke said as he jumped several feet back, a thick trail of blood raining in his wake. "I wanted to see how we compared, and I'll admit, you may have been able to defeat me any other day—"

Sasuke's monologue faded into the background as some phantom pain began to well inside of Naruto's being.

"I'm sorry..." Naruto lamented under his breath, knowing exactly what was about to happen to the warm life that surrounded them. "I'm sorry..."

He promised himself that he would never wreak as much destruction to innocent life as he did at the border. He was about to break another promise.

Sasuke's voice, dark and sinister, continued to fill in the background of Naruto's inner anguish, "But right now, I'm going to kill you and that God-forsaken village behind you in one go."

The avenger lifted his eyelids, and Naruto was able to see the atomic design in each kaleidoscope eye.

"You should thank me. You'll be dead before you have to see your village burn."

Then the world around them was filled with black fire.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Being stationed at the west wall of Konoha wasn't necessary to witness the sky-high tsunami of Amatseru; everyone within the village was aware of what was coming down on them. It was almost like the haze of red the Kyuubi brought with it so many years ago—unstoppable and monstrous—and this current monstrosity represented the same foreboding. There was no force that could stop it; no way to prepare for it.

"NARUTO!"

Sakura, eyes wide in fear and hysteria, looked about ready to bolt across the forest and into the inferno.

"Running into the fire helps no one!" Tenzou decried, grabbing a hold of her arm. It was the same place where Naruto grabbed her before, the bruise unhealed by her own dereliction, and she hissed.

"L-let go!" she struggled. "Please! He's—!"

"He's most likely already dead. Worry about what we still have!" Tenzou's words were harsh, but true. Sakura almost couldn't handle the thought of one former teammate destroying the other. She couldn't believe that, for so long, it was her wish to bring them all back together again, for them to relive their happy Genin days. It never occurred to her that maybe she was the only one who was happy—blissfully ignorant of Sasuke's failing sanity or Naruto's silent burden or Kakashi's haunting past. Having a good life was almost crippling for a ninja, because it left her even more unprepared for the utter anguish of what she was witnessing.

She could hear Kakashi bellowing orders: _strengthen the barriers...ninjutsu specialists at the front...long-range fighters prepare their best defenses..._

There was no point to it. Everybody knew it. Whatever Amatseru touched would perish and only an Uchiha could control it.

Using this bleak logic, Sakura came to the simple conclusion that she held no skills that could bring her village any leverage in this situation.

If Naruto was going to die, he wasn't going to die alone.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

When Sasuke unleashed his supreme attack, Naruto was just quick enough in the first fractions of a second to initially cocoon himself in a protective wind encasing, evading a burn-on-sight fate.

He couldn't control Amatseru—it was a talent meant for Uchiha blood only. Even when Itachi force-fed him some of his power, it would never amount to anything productive within a body that held neither Uchiha blood nor chakra. Kakashi could never hope to manage the black flames.

It was a nice gesture on Itachi's part, but even harboring the Kyuubi—the very source of the Sharingan—wouldn't enable him to dispel the deadly fire.

Naruto spent hours upon hours practicing redirecting fire with wind—far away from civilization, of course, as it often resulted in him getting hurt. Fire was fickle and temperamental; much like the wind, it did not like to be controlled. Trying to control an uncontrollable force with another uncontrollable force was practically counteractive. He found that he needed to completely overpower the mere flames of a candle in order to gain enough control for them not to spin out of control.

But this wasn't a candle flame, nor was it the fire of explosions caused by Pein; this was a doujutsu-based attack. Knowing that doujutsu were initially granted to humans by the demons, Naruto was banking on syncing three factors to pull off what he needed to in order to spare the village: Itachi's gift, his own youki, and senjutsu.

He was prepared to face the consequences.

In winding, fluid motions that bordered on ritualistic, Naruto carried his arms in front of his torso and wove them over his head. Clear to the human eye, wind began to gather around him, hastening and thickening from its original cocoon, catching the blackness around him and feeding it.

'_If you play with fire, you're gunna get burned...' _something in the back of his mind, sounding suspiciously like the Kyuubi, whispered. The Kyuubi was gone, of course, but sometimes Naruto got the impression that the beast somehow incorporated itself into his subconscious.

Inane musings weren't enough to dim what he was physically feeling. It hurt. Gods, did it hurt. He felt like he was standing next to the sun.

While his mastery over communicating with an element allowed him to more or less control the firestorm, the fact of the matter was that he was using wind. And the dangerous blaze ate it up in a heartbeat—trees, animals, _life_—incinerated forthwith (without hesitation).

"YOU IDIOT!" Sasuke laughed as he watched Naruto attempt to fend off his fire with wind. Just as anyone would have expected, the considerable amount of wind-induced chakra fed the flames to monstrous proportions. At this rate Konoha would be completely gone within the next minute. His laughter sounded maddened—maddened by the detestation of what he was doing and the anticipation of what he would soon accomplish.

Sasuke's maniacal laughter caught in his throat when the amplified, raging black fire coiled around Naruto's body like a massive basilisk before heading back towards him.

It happened so quickly. He hadn't enough practice controlling the flames, even after the fiasco with the eight tails; Madara forbade him from drawing too much attention to their location. One minute Sasuke was watching his idealistic plan nearly come to fruition, and the next he was seeing his own attack being turned on him—tenfold.

He was just as fast to react as Naruto was; using the Mangekyo Sharingan of his right eye, Sasuke managed to eliminate the flames, starting with those closest to him and avoiding being burned alive. But in reflexively sparing himself—even if it only cost a single second—he was late to catch the fire that expanded past him.

It was all so fast—simply _too fast_.

He saw the fire, canceled the attack, and was then left standing in a vast, blackened wasteland that was once a forest only seconds before. Sasuke's mouth worked wordlessly as he surveyed the power of black fire. That Amatseru...it existed for mere seconds—twenty at the most—and yet the damage was unbelievably extensive. Everything within a mile was incinerated—there was no other word for it—everything and everyone.

At first, Sasuke experienced a rush of automatic questions rolling around in his mind while the shock wound down:

Where was Karin? Why wasn't she here to heal him? Where was Suigetsu? Why wasn't he jumping at the chance to take out Naruto? Why was it so quiet that he could hear that idiot's labored breathing clearly from where he was?

And then the logical answer to it all crashed down on him once he realized he was squinting at a scorched pile of smoking carcasses. Carcasses he was too slow to save.

How could—? They were just there...

Suigetsu...Juugo...Karin...

He swayed, his vision was blurred. Was he crying? Or was he finally losing the rest of his eyesight?

Falling to his knees, out of fury and exhaustion, Sasuke punched the ground.

"NO!"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

When Juugo first saw Naruto using wind of all things to counteract _Amatseru_ he couldn't believe the idiocy of the guy.

When he saw the black flames of Amatseru redirected while being enhanced to unheard of proportions, he couldn't believe the idiocy of himself.

This was the man who took down all of Pein's bodies single handedly; this was a man who was considered a prodigy in the sage arts...and they just decided to waltz up to his home turf and threaten his village?

From their position only half a kilometer away, he, Karin and Suigetsu were given a front row, horrifying vision of Amatseru rushing towards them. On some subliminal level, they knew that Sasuke was currently trying to quell the flames, but they also knew he would never stop them in time.

This being the second time he found himself in this situation, Juugo's cursed-seal form flipped on out of instinct as he threw his body over Karin's. His natural rage was quelled by fear. Not for fear of losing his own life, but fear of losing _her_.

That was nearly a minute ago. As of right now, during the aftermath, Juugo was in a world of pain. He couldn't see anything. The last thing he remembered witnessing was Suigetsu trying to create a wall of water as a weak, final defense before the entire man was evaporated in a nanosecond. And then ash and fire was tearing his skin from his back, boiling the blood that tried to well out, drying his eyes to the point where they shriveled in their sockets...

The raw power of the attack had nearly blown them apart from one another. In his panic, Juugo managed to hold onto Karin, blindly crushing her to his chest. Currently, he could feel her torso underneath his at an odd angle, ensuring him that she was still with him.

"K-Krrrin—" He coughed, the motion tearing the delicate condition of his back into a worse state with each hack. He definitely lost quite a bit of flesh, possibly his whole backside; it was hard to tell when everything hurt.

"Karin," he tried again, this time managing her name in a deeply scratched voice, "Ugh, are you o-okay?"

"No," she whispered a single, hollow word. Her hot breath touched his ear, informing him as to where her head was in respect to his.

"I'm sorry, I tried," Juugo said softly. "I wish I could see you now but...but I can't open my eyes...I don't think I can move either—"

He felt soft flesh pushed against his mouth, much too big to be a finger. It was her arm. She wanted him to bite her.

He tried to lean away, but his back would only allow him limited movements.

"Bite it," Karin demanded in the same, breathy whisper. "I won't make it. But you have unfinished business don't you?"

He could almost picture her smiling, despite whatever pain she was in.

"You don't know that," he croaked. "We just have to get you back to Ren-san. He'll have you fixed up in no time."

"No...I'm not going anywhere...do this for me...for what we could have been...had I not..."

Juugo felt wet lips—wet with blood, he imagined—softly touching the skin next to his ear, inches away from where she was just directing her words.

The feeling came back from where the numbness had begun to settle. At first it hurt worse than ever as deep wounds were reanimated. Then, little by little, ever so slowly, the pain ebbed away. He found he could move just a little better, breathe just a little easier, and after several seconds of receiving her aid, Juugo had regained his sight.

Oh, how he wished he hadn't.

The torso and head that he had been protecting were scratched, dirty and bruised for the most part, but otherwise in well enough condition. Regrettably, that was all that was left of her. Entrails dangled from a gory mess where her hipbones used to be, her legs burned completely off her body. The fire was so hot that the blood flow was immediately staunched. It was probably the only reason she managed to stay alive so long.

"I—I wish things could-d've been dif-fferent..." She gurgled, her words slurring together as she lost her grip, "I wish...we could have..."

Tears burned Juugo's newly healed eyes as he brushed sweaty, grimy hair back from her forehead. Leave it to him to fall in love with someone else's lover. "Shh, I know. Me too."

He leaned down and kissed her one last time on those perfect, red (blood-covered and pale) lips.

She didn't respond. She was already dead.

A lack of sensation swept the giant man's body. He gently set what was left of the woman down and slowly pulled himself to his feet. It was only through his love and respect for Karin and their budding affair that he managed to push down the desire to transform back into his cursed seal mode and go berserk.

Still unable to feel anything from the shock of surviving such rapid and traumatizing events, Juugo mechanically absorbed the surrounding damage and sought out those responsible. From a gross distance, he could just make out two dark figures crouched on the ground—no doubt due to fatigue—through the smoky screen left over from the attack. It would be so easy to kill them—Uzumaki for redirecting the fire at them, Sasuke for dragging them in this in the first place.

But the line of blame could go in any direction, and traced endlessly back. He would end up like Sasuke—looking for solace through vengeance, never feeling complete after each kill and never understanding why, hurting those who cared about him, hurting a wonderful, passionate woman...

There was only one man he sought to kill in this world...and neither of the two men, incidentally at his mercy, were that man.

Juugo turned away from Naruto and Sasuke, he turned away from Karin, and he turned away from the Akatsuki. The cloak was burned from his body; he only had scraps of pants left.

In stiff, robotic motions, Juugo set off into the west, never looking back.

He wouldn't be seen again for many years.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Sasuke's cry of anguish rang until his throat felt raw. He knew he didn't always treat them how they deserved to be treated, but they were all he had left—his team—and now they were gone. Bleeding, blinded, spiritually broken, and just about chakra depleted, the troubled young man somehow knew he had come to the end of his rope.

Smoke from the destroyed forest rose into the air, slowly thinning until a clear enough silhouette could be made out of Naruto on his knees as well.

"You...you..." Sasuke couldn't find the words to express how he was feeling. He couldn't find the strength within him to go on—even if it were for revenge—he just wanted everything to be over.

It wouldn't have mattered if Sasuke had said something profound at that moment because Naruto was lost in his own the young father, it was the Border all over again—overwhelming carnage and guilt choked him.

The only difference was that this time he was in sage mode when it happened, and therefore he had to take direct responsibility for his actions.

"H-holy shh...shhit...that was—that—that...ugh!"

Naruto curled in on himself as nature's chakra was furiously—_brutally_—ripped from his body, leaving him raw, vulnerable, and cold. Really cold. It felt like his whole ribcage was vibrating within his muscular structure. Wrapping his arms around his stomach, trying to move enough to rub his bare skin, did nothing to grant him warmth.

He was grateful that it wasn't the opposite—that he wasn't immediately turned into stone via an uncontrollable overload of natural energy (which, on some level, he had expected)—but the sudden abandonment left him shaking in pain. It was deeper than just physical pain, the burns and chakra exhaustion were superficial for him. It was a hollow, stabbing pain that gripped his core, punishing him.

The Earth...the Earth was angry. Millions—possibly billions—of lives were just eradicated in the blink of an eye. And for what? _Humans?_

There would have been less collateral damage if Naruto had simply let the Amatseru continue on its course, rather than recklessly trying to control it without qualification; there were fewer humans in Konoha than all the trees and birds and mammals and insects that died. Life was life, and Naruto ended more than he saved.

Sasuke's laughter—an aberrantly loud, bitter cackle—redirected some of Naruto's attention from himself. He screwed his eyes at the other man and could just make out a thin river of blood running down the left side of Sasuke's face, starting from the eye. Tears were mingling with the plasma as the man chuckled.

"You just have to take everything from me, don't you?" Sasuke asked him. He sounded almost heartbroken; had he not just tried to destroy everything Naruto cared about, Naruto could have spared Sasuke some of the guilt he was addled with.

"No, Sasuke," Naruto spoke softly, adopting a small frown. "You've given it to us. You only have you and your choices to blame."

Sasuke couldn't see (his left eye was completely blind and his right was barely making out shapes) but he could recognize the tone Naruto spoke to him in. It was one of pity, and he grew incensed.

"I don't want to hear your preaching!" Sasuke ground out. He shakily lifted one hand and planted it firmly in the ground in front of him, starting a slow, shaky crawl towards his adversary. "You and your _holy_ sage powers—always knowing what's _right_ and _wrong_—"

Naruto could just barely hear him coming closer over his own ragged breathing. If he squinted he could make out the overlapping shadows of Sasuke's slowly moving form. Unfortunately, he simply wasn't able to move his body. He could hardly hold his own head up.

"We all know you're above humans, Naruto," Sasuke spat out the name along with some bloody spittle. "You don't think I know how fucked up I am? How fucked up my life is? You don't need to patronize me—!"

He had to pause in his slow-moving crawl to dry heave a few times. Some shards of Kusanagi pierced his esophagus and trachea...acid was staining his lungs.

Naruto took the chance to whisper, "Y-you were a child...when you w-watched your family die, you were j-just—just a child. There was nothing you could do at the time..."

The freezing man felt his head want to drop and he clenched his eyes shut in the effort to stay conscious and talking.

"No...no six year old could stop that..."

Sasuke spat out some more blood that had collected in the back of his throat.

"So?"

An empty smile took over Naruto's face. God his head hurt.

"I wa-zz-zuh an adult...I was a n-ninja," his teeth chattered as he tried to speak, mincing his words, "I wuh-watched my f-fiancé die because I—I could have saved her, but _didn't_...It w-was in-nn my power but I...I..."

He really, _really_ wanted to sleep, but some stupid, noble aspect of his personality, no doubt dragged along from his childhood, insisted that he stay with Sasuke. His voice grew softer as dark spots began to dot the corners of his vision.

"I k-killed Kisame, but I was-s-s sss-still covered in her blood. The only good killing him b-b-brought me was that it...it bought me some t-time with Hitomi."

Naruto had to take a moment to catch his breath. Moving his lungs so much hurt; it felt like he wasn't able to take a full breath of air for being crushed by some glacial, supernatural force.

In the meantime, Sasuke found himself mightily interested in his own growing pool of blood. He didn't want to hear about Naruto's hardships; he was at the end of his wasted life, he wanted to enjoy his own pity party without Naruto crashing it.

"Your family...they chose mutiny...a-and they p-paid for it...Kensha chhuh-chose to fall in l-love with a jinchuh-chuurik-k-ki, and she paid for it. It just...j-just doesn't add up, d-does it?"

Naruto was definitely losing the battle to stay conscious and his only consolation was that the immediate threat was eliminated. Two of Sasuke's party were dead, one had left, and Sasuke was incapacitated. Konoha would survive another day, with or without him there to defend it.

"You don't think I know that?" Sasuke choked back. Damn Naruto to hell for being so...so...sagacious. "I never wanted it to end like this, Naruto...In all honestly I thought I would die fighting Itachi to the death...then I thought I would die on one of the missions Akatsuki sent me on...And now..."

"Y-you just want to die?" Naruto finished.

"There's nothing left for me in this world," Sasuke agreed without agreeing, "Killing lost its meaning to me for a while now...I was just looking for some kind of closure. Maybe a fitting end, going down in some epic battle, taking down some of Konoha's finest in the process...I'm not sure, anymore..."

This time, Naruto's smile was a little more genuine.

"You always were dramatic."

Sasuke nearly smiled back.

"And you're the most unpredictable ninja. I never calculated that you would have been able to defeat Amatseru. It... it certainly changed everything."

Like the fact that his comrades would not be walking away from this battle as he initially planned. He would be seeing them soon enough.

Naruto didn't know if revealing the fact that the final key to his defense was a gift from Sasuke's own brother would further upset the man, so he chose not to say anything at all.

That and he wouldn't call what he did a "defeat". He certainly felt no victory.

"I know I screwed up, time and again," Sasuke admitted softly. If he was pale before, his skin managed to reach a ghostly complexion by this point. "And I'm just too tired to try anymore. I'm a traitor, so were my family, and I deserve to join them—no, I _want_ to join them. I figured...if I'm going to die, I'll choose how I die—it will be the first choice I've made for _myself_..."

He began his strenuous crawl once more. He was within five feet of Naruto by now.

"But I'm taking you with me."

"I...think I'm already dying. But okay." Even after all the emotional turmoil Sasuke put him through, Naruto figured he still merited some kind of closure. And if it took him away from this pain...

He felt like he was suffocating. He was so used to feeling so connected, so _alive_, and now he had been shunned, cut off from a life-force he grew addicted to. He felt as though he couldn't see or hear or feel. He didn't know where he was in the world, he couldn't connect with the life he was so used to being surrounded by. Granted, that was mostly his fault, but even so, there was no safety net anymore. He was alone.

He felt delirious and drained...more drained than he thought he would without the sage chakra. Perhaps he hurt something in his efforts to control Amatseru? Destroyed some chakra canals? It wouldn't surprise him.

Hitomi would be safe; he felt he had given her a good enough childhood. It was okay if he died. He didn't think he could live without his bond with the Earth anyway...

Naruto felt something soft and cool press against the sides of his face—nothing at all like the death he was expecting. The comforting touch gently held his head up, a tendril of reality that kept him grounded.

"It's alright now," someone whispered near his eyes, "I'll take things from here. You rest. You did wonderfully."

"S-Sakura...?" Naruto mumbled, recognizing the voice. She kissed his forehead, allowing her lips to linger on his brow.

In the recess of his mind, Naruto made the loose connection that if she was near him, and Sasuke was about to kill him in whichever manner, she was in danger.

He began to mutter incoherently, "N-no wait...Sasuke—He's..."

"He's not a problem. You can let go now, everything will be alright. Let me take care of this."

_Let me take care of you._

Letting go sounded really nice. Dumbly, Naruto managed to nod, and he gave Sakura all of the trust she had been asking for. He was simply a mortal int that moment, no more powerful than any other human.

Sasuke had certainly lost a few pints of blood after Kusanagi was blown into him, and the Amatseru had further crippled him, so when a new presence suddenly appeared in between himself and his target without preamble, Sasuke had to wonder if he was hallucinating. After some intermittent blinking and squinting, he was able to determine that it was a female, and she had pink hair.

"Sakura..."

Then she was gone, only to reemerge as a presence behind him. He felt the sharp edge of a blade pressed against the underside of his jaw.

"Please..." he whispered, not understanding why he said the word. He felt he needed to explain himself. "I just...over..."

Sakura knew he'd be dead within the minute if she had just left him as he was; no amount of vasoconstriction or rehydration could save him at this point. She knew that if he died like this it would be considered as his own fault, his own actions and his own weapons left him in this state. No one would have to take the blame for the death of one of Konoha's prodigies.

But the blossomed woman had her own sense of justice that needed to be quelled—she had her own grudges and compulsions that neither man ever took the time to pay attention to.

Leaning closer to him so that her lips were nearly touching his ear, Sakura hissed:

"You're welcome."

A jerk of her arm later and Uchiha Sasuke was dead.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Rating has been bumped up due to excessive dropping of the F-bomb. Boys will be boys. And I'm sure no one is surprised by the turn of events as I've done nothing to keep my intentions regarding Sasuke a secret. It wasn't a very long fight, and I'm sorry for those who were expecting more, but the true purpose of this confrontation wasn't to off Sasuke, believe it or not.

The Juugo/Karin bit was just a minor possibility that may have happened over the time skip, but never amounted to what they wanted it too. Destroying team Hawk was really an unlucky accident...Naruto wasn't actually aiming for them. Obviously he wasn't aiming much at all.

Things are going to change a bit more from now own since I pretty much just tore down Naruto's last defense. His perspective changes, so the story's does as well.

On a not-so-cool note, I'm going to be off working my island summer job soon, so that means two months without electricity. The chances of getting another chapter out before I leave aren't too good, so I suppose now would be the opportune moment to warn you all that updates will be very rare until mid august. Sad, I know, but a girl needs money.

Thank you to all who reviewed last chapter! I know I didn't get to get back to everyone because I'm lame-sauce in the summer, but I do try!

And a BIG thank you to **MegaB**, who is still pulling crap right out of thin air. I think I need glasses cuz I have no idea who I miss half this shit -_-

**Next chap**: cold turkeys and angry toads.


	24. A Selfish Savior

**Chapter 24**

As with most hospital employees, it was routine for Sakura to spend her three o'clock, Monday afternoons in the hospital lounge during her second hour break, kicking her feet up on the chipped, oak coffee table and sipping languidly on a refreshment. But today, and every other day since Sasuke attacked, she could be found sitting by Naruto's bedside—changing cold presses, holding his hand, doing anything she could to help ease what he was going through.

She had seen symptoms like this before: the temperature imbalance, the nausea, the shaking, the agony, the delirium...his body was clearly detoxing. Though from what, she did not know. It pained her to watch him in pain, scared her to see someone so strong rendered so helpless.

In the first couple of days after bringing Naruto to the hospital his condition intensified, leaving him feverish and debilitated. The shaking got to the point where the the nurses had to strap him down for fear of him hurting himself. They initially tried keeping him on a morphine drip but his body kept pushing the needles out; his super healing gene only reacting to superficial wounds and penetrations, not to whatever was happening on the inside.

Fortunately, the manifestations had begun to ease up as of late; he could speak every now and then, ask for some water in the rare, few moments of clarity—but, all in all, there was little to be done beside wait it out.

It took her a while, but eventually Sakura managed to accept that she could do no better than to simply _be there _for him. It was then that she decided to spend her time covering all logical and emotional aspects of team seven's final moments together; she wanted to make sure she had sorted through any nettlesome feelings she had left over. That way, if Naruto began to get remorseful on her, she'd be able to assure him that it was all for the best and they could move on with their lives.

It wasn't a hard task.

Sakura only experienced mild surprise when she realized she didn't feel much in the way of killing Sasuke. Her crush on the avenger had long since dissipated, his choices and behavior appearing more tragic than cool as she journeyed through her teens. By the time she drew her blade across his throat he was nothing more than an old and troubled friend that she still felt unable to abandon. Even though he tried to kill Naruto, tried to kill _Konoha_, and as angry as she was with him, she honestly wished that he found peace in the afterlife.

The young woman had killed before, though the majority of deaths she could take responsibility for were not her target. If there was one thing that aged her over the years working as a medic-nin, one thing that truly left scars on her soul, it was the lives she lost on the table. A life lost when the intent is to kill someone is a completely different experience from a life lost while trying to save them. Those moments where she failed someone—not just the victim but their family and friends—stuck out in her mind more sharply than her many more successes.

There was nothing harder than telling a family that she couldn't save their son or daughter or father. Not when the reason was simply because she just wasn't good enough or fast enough or smart enough. Every time a patient flatlined, while she stood there in scrubs and blood and sweat after fighting fruitlessly for hours, she wanted nothing more than to shut herself up in her office and lay her head on her desk. She wanted to have Naruto's ability to cloud his own mind in a greater power and forget about the everyday human stuff.

She couldn't do that, of course—and now, looking at Naruto's quivering form, she was glad she never had that option. Because if he couldn't fight the temptation of it then she sure couldn't have either.

Sakura's greatest maturing factor came from having to confront the people waiting anxiously outside the ER. She learned how to take their grief and anger in stride, take the screams and threats and tears with a mask of detached sympathy, before the aggrieved party were able to carry on their way. It was only later in the evening, after she finished her last shift, that she would go home and cry tears of her own for people who she had never even met before that day.

The slippery feel of someone else's blood staining her hospital smock combined with the copper twang that succinctly assaulted her nostrils, always left her feeling a bit peaked; she was conditioned to experience a sense of foreboding. Death itself seemed to bring forth a combination of nausea, dread and commiseration.

But feeling Sasuke's hot blood coating her wrist and fingers, staining through her shirt as she grabbed a hold of his bleeding, broken body, oddly gave her no such ill impression—she was too focused on saving Naruto to fully pay attention to the details. In fact, taking his life brought her a sense of tranquility, if nothing else. Like she had done both herself and Sasuke a great service. Eliminating him meant one less threat to her loved ones, and Sasuke finally got a chance to find the happiness he couldn't attain in life.

Naruto moaned and curled further into a ball, not quite waking up but too feverish to enjoy sleep. Biting her lip, Sakura pet some damp hair back from his face, unable to do much else for his comfort. His forehead may have broken into a perpetual cold sweat, but the rest of his body seemed to be stuck at an internal temperature of thirty degrees centigrade...something she had never before seen anyone survive at. He was always shivering, always curled in pain—twisting around the core of his body from where the torment stemmed, making him seem smaller than he actually was. His lips were tinged blue, as were the beds of his nails.

He tried to explain it to her in disjointed mumbles between fitful naps. From what she understood, he had certain accepted duties as a sage—Nature allowed him to use her power to protect life on Earth. To most humans, Sage mode was an all powerful form where one could dip into an endless pool of power and find their true potential. But for Naruto, it was about giving rather than getting. He gave his body up as a tool—and four days ago he proved to be a disobedient tool.

As a committed sage, he shouldn't have the luxury of relationships, not when they compromise the position he accepted. He had broken the Earth's trust by allowing his personal attachments to come in the way of his responsibilities.

He kept apologizing as well. Another thing she didn't fully understand and was willing to chalk up to dementia.

"Suh—Sakura...?"

The woman sprang to attention at the weak groan of her name. His eyes were partially open and Sakura could only make out an unfocused gaze of dilated pupils through the web of lashes. His brow furrowed as though it took great effort to find her in the room. She idly wondered if he even knew where he was.

"You—here—," he breathed out in little more than a whimper. He closed his eyes again; it was too painful to add vision to his sensory intake.

"Yes, I'm right here," she said softly and smiled. As if to prove her point she gave his slack hand a small squeeze. His hand twitched within her grasp and she took it as a response. "It seems we're always in this situation, you and I. You suffer and I just sit here."

He was panting now. She couldn't tell if he was hot or simply had difficulty breathing due to pain. It couldn't have been the former; his body temperature was still ridiculously low.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. The skin of his eyelids scrunched and he turned his face into the pillow. She gave his hand another squeeze.

"It's fine." She didn't know what else to tell him; not when she couldn't be sure about what he was apologizing for.

"I'm sorry," he repeated, his voice muffled by the flat pillow.

"I know."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Naruto's feverish condition continued for a couple more days, gradually letting up; little by little the pain eased as his body began to regulate itself without it's desired dose of natural energy, allowing him fuller sleeps and greater comprehension as to what was going on around him.

The doctors were certainly relieved—for something that they had no idea how to deal with, it was always a blessing when it resolved itself.

When Naruto's call button rang at ten-thirty in the morning—smack dab in the middle of one of Sakura's rounds—Tsunade made sure she was the one who responded. After all, it was she who had monitored him since he arrived, observing his body and how it responded to his plight. From what she gathered, the majority of his energy went into keeping his body heated, like his chakra was fighting against some force that persistently chilled him.

For Naruto to have actively called someone to his room would mean that, for the first time since the Sasuke incident (a week), he was awake _and_ alert. According to Sakura, he had managed a few conversations with her, but Tsunade had a hard time believing the man was very coherent for any of them.

The elderly woman slipped into room 344 as inconspicuously as she could. Tipping someone off that Naruto was awake would only cause a commotion; there were quite a few people who wanted to visit him.

Just as she had hoped, Naruto was sitting straight up, no longer huddled in agony, with his eyes open and sharp. He had dark rings under his eye sockets and the skin of his face was unnaturally pale, giving him, overall, a rather wan look; his appearance was no doubt a result of spending day after day hardly eating or sleeping, tortured by some internal glitch none of the doctors could quite figure out.

"How are you feeling?" It was the first thing Tsunade thought to ask. As she spoke she began running a diagnostic over his body, focusing on his chest where the source of the pain appeared to resonate from.

Naruto sat still, probably not having the energy to push her away like he did half the time. His response came out equivocal, breathy.

"I'll be fine."

He would be fine, he told himself, but he _wasn't_ fine for so long...and he hadn't even noticed. No one had...

Tsunade focused her glowing, green hands on his chest, finding his internal temperature self-regulated and his breathing less labored. His greatest problem appeared to be exhaustion and low chakra. He would make a full recovery.

With that comforting thought in mind, the elder wasted no time in getting all her aggravations off her chest.

"Well, in that case...Uzumaki Naruto do you know what I had to do?" Without waiting for any type of reply she sharply answered her own question: "I had to reattach your chakra coils because you somehow managed to sever the majority of them from one another! Do you know when the last time I had to do that was? During the third war over twenty years ago! To your father! As he was trying to learn that stupid, flying, thunder-idiot jutsu!"

Her diatribe would usually have the younger blonde smiling at her in poorly concealed amusement. But instead Naruto's mind took him back to the very reason he needed to be operated on.

Controlling the Amatseru seemed like a distant dream now. It was only yesterday that he was able to fully grasp how much time had passed. He tried to recall the first few days after he was drained of nature's energy; a blur of agonizing cold determined to trap him in his own body, unable to speak or think, just shiver and seek out out any source of warmth with mindless strain. Just thinking back on it now gave him a phantom sensation of the bitter, icy grip that encased his center.

While Naruto was vaguely aware of Tsunade's ongoing rant ("How many times do I have to tell you moronic blondes that you can't shoot chakra out from your pores like that!? It's like it goes in one ear and out the other..."), snippets of that final, significant conversation returned to him.

There was Sasuke...his first friend...mangled by his own hand and traveling at a pathetic crawl...stripped away from the proud Uchiha he once was...

"_...If I'm going to die, I'll choose how I die—it will be the first choice I've made for myself...But I'm taking you with me."_

And he, Naruto, feeling like a forsaken newborn with no protection in the world. Confused, scared, hypothermic. Desperate.

"_I...think I'm already dying. But okay."_

Naruto pulled the blankets up to his chin, accidently knocking Tsunade's hands away as he felt the cold once again—and this time it wasn't the backlash of his disabled sage mode.

Was he really going to do it? Was he so far gone in his silent hysteria that he would have abandoned his own child just because he couldn't reconnect with the Earth? Would he have rather been dead than face the prospect of having to survive without his security blanket? What kind of sick, knee-jerk reaction was that?

He already knew what kind, even though it pained him to admit it; it was the kind an abuser had.

He felt a little different now. A little more stifled, a little more vulnerable. As weak and..._human_ as he felt right now, he would never, ever choose being a sage over his daughter...

Naruto placed a hand on his head, unspeakably perturbed and feeling quite nauseous.

"Are you even listening to me?"

The man lifted his eyes and stared bleakly at Tsunade. There must have been nothing in his expression that spelled interest because Tsunade looked about ready to cry out of frustration.

"Oh forget it..." she griped and scribbled something down on a clipboard.

Naruto glared at his lap for a moment, keeping the thick linen wrapped up to his chin, before rasping, "Where's Tomi?"

Tsunade lifted an eyebrow at his morose timbre, "She's with Juhi. She's fine....tell me honestly, how are you feeling? I mean mentally."

Naruto was still picking out patterns in the lint of his blanket.

"Stupid," he sighed. "And tired."

"You saved a lot of people," Tsunade pointed out. "You know how I get upset when you endanger yourself like that, necessary as it is sometimes, being the only one with the power you have...but we're all very grateful for what you did for us. That couldn't have been easy for you..."

Naruto didn't know if she was referring to having to encounter Sasuke, or having to abuse the power of a Sage for personal reasons.

"Sakura," Naruto looked towards the door leading out into the hallway. If there was one thing he was certain of during the worst of his recovery, it was her voice, her hands, soothing and coaxing and distracting. For those grisly, hopeless days, she was the closest thing to morphine. "How is she...? After..."

After _she_ had to kill Sasuke...She, who stopped him from making a terrible mistake in a moment of madness.

"Sakura's fine," Tsunade waved off his nerves, "Mostly worried about you. I'm sure she'll pop in later on to check up on you."

Naruto did not share Tsunade's nonchalance.

"But what about...she killed Sasuke!" he exclaimed hoarsely. "She had to be the one to do it—I couldn't even—!"

"She's not losing any sleep over it, Naruto," Tsunade swiftly interposed. She hadn't seen him this lively for over a week. "If you hadn't been so wrapped up in being a Sage you wouldn't be so surprised right now. Her only objective for the last few years has been protecting _you_."

His eyes dropped "M-me...?"

A part of him was already recognizing that this was information he knew. He was never able to acknowledge it before. Perhaps he felt threatened of creating another attachment, another step back from being a full-blown sage. Was that instinctual? Had the Earth been slipping those feelings inside him, molding a new outlet. Or did he really have some innate desire to let go of all worldly bonds?

"Welcome to the land of the living, I'm glad you've finally woken up," Tsunade affixed with a touch of sarcasm. She wasn't simply referring to the past week. She was speaking, for the first time in years, to a man who had all but disappeared, buried by an aloof, preoccupied savant. The way Naruto stared around the room with such an open face made him look nineteen again.

Naruto chewed on his bottom lip.

"I really need to talk to her. Sorry. I just have to hear it from herself."

"Are you surprised by how things worked out?" Tsunade asked, "Did you ever expect an outcome that wouldn't have ended in Sasuke's death?"

The blonde shook his head, "Not for years—the only way I could picture him happy was if he let go of all his hate and moved on somewhere far away from Konoha. But he wasn't the type to let go of anything. Heh—he always had to have the last word. I just never thought Sakura would be the one..."

Naruto's eyes trailed to the lone window. It didn't let in nearly enough light as he felt he needed.

"I knew Sasuke had some suicidal tendencies. I think...ever since we were a genin team together, he wanted to die. Maybe ever since his family was killed. I just had this feeling that all he wanted was to be with them again...and killing Itachi was the only thing he felt he had to accomplish before he got to die."

"Must be an Uchiha thing," Tsunade concurred. "Maybe they believe in having a clean slate before they can move on. Madara seems to be in that same mind-frame. Still can't seem to let go of Konoha, can he?"

"Madara," Naruto muttered. He zoned out again, his newly aware mind never letting up for a minute, looking for any excuse to condemn him for his earlier decisions.

Madara was still out there. As was Pein.

Ashen fingers gripped the folds of the bed sheets. And to think he was willing to leave Hitomi in a world with men like _that_. What had he nearly done?

"Naruto-chan."

Naruto jumped at the voice near his elbow. He hated being so...numb.

"Fu—," he coughed, "Fukasaku?"

The elder toad was settled on the bedside table, a severe frown fixed above the white goatee. Naruto already knew why he was so upset.

"Tsunade-chan, would ya' mind giving us some privacy." Fukasaku issued respectfully. The woman nodded once, patted Naruto's hand and quietly left the room.

Naruto could feel the elder frog's glower heat the side of his face as he continued to stare down at his knees. He didn't know what to say; he felt like a child.

Apparently no words were needed, because the next thing Naruto knew an abrupt pain had bloomed on the left side of his head—courtesy of Fukasaku's "learning stick".

"OW! Damn it! What the hell!?" Naruto hissed, rubbing the throbbing ache beneath his hair.

"Just makin' sure there was no natural energy left in ya'. 'pparently ya' can't be trusted with it."

Fukasaku still looked disapproving—menacing even, with the plank of wood he still brandished—but the tension had been broken.

"Trust me," Naruto grumbled. "It's gone."

"Good. Let's try ta' keep it that way for a while. I can't imagine what ya' were thinkin'."

"Look I'm sorry—I know what I did was wrong—"

"I'm not sure ya' realize just how wrong," Fukasaku cut in, giving Naruto a scrutinizing glare that made the man want to squirm. "The reaction ya' had to such an abrupt drain was far harsher than yer usual chakra depletion case, wouldn't ya' say?"

"Nature's angry—the Earth is—I know that. But what would you have me do? I couldn't let Konoha burn!"

"It's not yer decision that concerns me, Naruto-chan, it's the reaction. Do ya' know why you experienced such a horrific backlash? It's a sign that ya' were far too immersed in becomin' a Sage fer someone of yer position."

Naruto was wholly confused.

"My...position?"

The toad heaved a sigh with his tiny shoulders.

"We've been over this before, Naruto-chan. I've explained to ya' what it means ta' be a true Sage. There have probably only ever been one or two individuals willing to become a complete Sage. Those who the Earth find ta' be worthy of a representative, a vessel of sorts. The Earth seeks individuals who will impart all their being ta' her; she'll trust 'em ta' carry out her will without the impediment of mortal affairs."

Naruto winced. The Earth had given him that same trust; he, who came to her day after day, seeking comfort and promising obedience in return. He had believed his need for her outweighed the devotion she asked of him.

Last week, Naruto showed that he would rather end more life—life that was capable of making Earth herself grow stronger in the very roots of the trees—than suffer his own emotional pain. He demonstrated that he was still selfish, just like every other human out there.

Fukasaku continued, mindful of Naruto's inner plight.

"You show so much potential—a very rare potential. It comes as naturally to ya' as if ya' were meant to be a full blown Sage. But you're not, and I believe you're stronger for it."

"How would I be stronger?" Naruto asked, feeling quite frustrated. Frustrated and dizzy. "Konoha has only benefited from me in Sage mode. I can catch things that usually go unnoticed, I have the power to counteract the dangers that surround me because of what I am: a jinchuuriki."

"And what about those close to ya'? You of all people should know better than anyone the difference between survivin' and livin'; you're helping 'em survive, but they want ya' in their _lives_. Ya' have a child whom ya' love unconditionally...and being a Sage means releasing all personal attachments. You're just not meant ta' be a "greater-good" kind of person, Naruto-chan, you're meant ta' be a father. Someone who can give and accept love."

"Why can't I be both?!" argued Naruto. He didn't like it when someone told him he couldn't do something; he never had. Because as far as he was concerned, he _could_ do anything. He lived to prove people wrong. He failed time and time again but in the end he always managed to pull something off. Why should this be so different?

"Why did the Earth reject you?" Fukaasku dead panned.

Naruto knew where this was going. He knew he was being unreasonable.

He answered anyway, "Because I chose to protect a...man-made establishment over the forest."

"And what happened when ya' lost it?"

"I...wanted to die..." Naruto said so softly it was little more than a whisper.

"Do ya' see why its so dangerous? Ya' spent so much time in deep meditation that _she_ began to mold ya'. The need for her chakra was only the beginning of her influence—then ya' would unconsciously detach yourself from those around ya', spend less and less time around civilization, slowly unite yourself with nature. Do ya' see why those who feel that inhuman attachment for Earth often choose one life over the other? Ya' can't have both. I warned ya' before."

"I'm sorry," Naruto exhaled. He felt sufficiently cowed. It was bad enough he had his own guilt trip to tear him down, now Fukasaku was bringing his reasons into question. He vaguely recalled the warning—but he didn't heed it. He was too excited about tapping into such an awesome power. He let himself get carried away, never seeing the harm in it. Never realizing he may have been losing himself...

The expression on his face must have been dour because Fukasaku took pity on the man.

"I understand better than ya' think I do," Fukasaku sighed. "Findin' someone as natural in the sage arts as you were is rare. I expected too much from ya', so did everyone else. I shouldn't have left ya' with such a great temptation when ya' was so vulnerable."

Immediately, Naruto began to sputter.

"Wait-a-minute. It wasn't—I wasn't _vulnerable_." He found the very word used to describe him antagonizing. After all, not too long ago he was the strongest he had ever been. "I just felt, with the Akatsuki actively hunting me, I should focus on protecting the village."

Fukasaku was shaking his head. "There was more to it and ya' know it, Naruto-chan. Ya' shouldn't have had ta' raise Hitomi-chan by yerself. Tsunade was wrong ta' let you go it alone like that. Ya' weren't ready for it and ya' weren't ready for the added responsibilities ya' took over fer Jiraiya-chan. No one blames ya' fer looking fer some sorta' escape. So few get the chance ta' experience the power of the Earth and you, more than anyone, needed that sort of assurance when ya' were so alone."

Naruto grew agitated.

"But I did it!" he persisted. "I did it all and Hitomi survived and I survived and so did Konoha. Who cares about how it happened?"

He did everything he promised Tsunade he would do and came out on top. He most certainly was _not_ trying to escape being a father. He loved it. He did.

"Yes, you did it," the amphibian conceded. "But at what price?"

There was something in the old toad's face that only further upset Naruto. Something dangerously close to regret.

"You were not okay," Fukasaku said with commiseration, "And I'm sorry that no one noticed before it was too late."

Naruto knit his brow at the admission and he wondered if he and Fukasaku were even on the same page. "I don't understand. What are you talking about? I know I fucked up a few days ago but before that I was fine. I—I was doing great. And I love Hitomi...how could you think that I wanted to get away from her?"

"There's no question as ta' whether ya' love Hitomi-chan or not. You're a great father—no doubt about it," Fukasaku soothed. "What I'm sayin' is people find all sorts of different ways ta' cope with life. You've had a particularly hard one, so I can see why ya' sought comfort in something that could protect ya'."

The man frowned.

"I didn't do it for comfort. I did it because it was my duty. I had the power to watch over Konoha better than anyone else could..." he trailed off, remembering how he used to look forward to his time alone...in that tree. Yes, he had a favorite tree. He used to pity people because they couldn't experience the world like he did. He would spend hours just feeling that warm, beautiful energy wrap around him...

Already he was aching for that reassurance.

"Then why did you immerse yourself in sage mode as often as you could?" Fukasaku countered, supporting the comprehensions within Naruto's own mind. "Ya' didn't need ta' do it, ya' didn't need ta' fight, but I have it on good authority that ya' progressively spent more and more time in meditation, stepping away from yer duties as a ninja and citizen."

He was right. The excuses—to his friends, to the Hokage, sometimes even to his own daughter—just to spend a few more minutes feeling safe...feeling sheltered. He really had lost himself to that third, natural energy. He was mere threads away from cutting himself off from communication with anything but Earth herself.

Then he remembered, once more, the cold, tragic pain of abandonment that resonated alongside of his empty chakra canals; he had allowed his roots to run far too deep into the Earth—so deep that the deracination could lead to nothing less than a torturous episode.

He was willing to die just to escape it; he was willing to abandon Hitomi in return.

_He was willing to leave his daughter._

Naruto closed his eyes.

"I can't do this anymore."

Fukasaku observed the haunted shadow that lurked behind those blue eyes.

"It isn't forever, Naruto-chan, you'll be able ta' access Sage mode again someday."

Swallowing, Naruto shook his head.

"No. I don't think I can trust myself with that kind of power."

Two, shaggy white eyebrows rose. The boy was really beating himself up about this.

"What ya' did may not have been fer Earth's benefit, but it was the right choice fer _you_. Ya' made some mistakes—the consequences could have been far worse." Fukasaku only wanted Naruto to understand the significance of his past actions, to understand his own boundaries; he didn't want the boy to fall into a depression. "You're young and learnin', just like any other guy yer age. It's okay ta' be a little selfish. It means you're still human."

Melancholy as he was, Naruto snorted. He went from demon to godly to human in less than a decade. Human was, for all intents and purposes, the middle ground. It was where you could do bad things and be forgiven. It was where you could do good things and be condemned. Being human would be a headache, but if it kept his head on his shoulders it was what he would try to be.

"Ya' have a good enough incentive not ta' let it get outta hand again," Fukasaku added, gesturing to the bed he was situated in. "And ya' have a lotta people willin' ta' keep ya' grounded. You'll be fine."

Naruto leaned back and rested his head on the cool metal bar of the bed panel. His skin was actually starting to radiate some heat; it felt nice. After taking in a deep, purifying breath he exhaled the air within his lungs, releasing with it all the anxiety and regret and uncertainty that plagued his mind since he broke out of his cold stupor.

It was time for a fresh start.

He needed to see Hitomi and he needed to see Sakura—the two people who he spurned most. He should also see the Hokage, let him know he'd be willing to do more missions. Maybe he should visit Juhi as well. Hitomi would spend weekends there but his own visits became more and more rare...he could start bar-tending on Saturday's...maybe even hang out with Yasei...

So many things that he would have usually brushed off now seemed appealing to him. Perhaps, deep down, he really did miss socializing with humans. A large part of his personality that would have been useless for a Sage to harbor was nearly stamped out.

Reversing the damage would have to take first priority once he got out of the hospital.

But first—he napped.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Naruto-sensei!"

Naruto did his best to suppress a groan. He had just been reintroduced to the beauty of deep, uninterrupted sleep and he wanted to take full advantage of it. Unfortunately, his genin team had other ideas.

Word must have gotten around that he was finally lucid because he had been plagued with visitors every other hour. First it was Kakashi, delivering to him the formal gratitude and the promise of compensation...and then the loathsome "hair ruffle of affection" which, apparently, he would never be too old to receive. Next it was Tsunade again, informing him of arrangements for Hitomi to return to Konoha and forcing some foul liquid down his throat. Later, a few of his friends dropped by: Shikamaru and Hinata arrived separately, then Kiba and Ino together, bickering between themselves for the majority of the visit. Then a nurse brought him food.

Sakura had yet to show up.

"You are way more awesome than Oki said you were," Ringo gushed, climbing onto the bed without any provocation. "She said you were lame 'cause you were technically still a genin but I knew you were way cooler than that!"

"What!" Oki shrieked—which did nothing to help Naruto's headache. "You bastard! That's a bold-faced lie! I said nothing of the sort! Sensei, I wasn't worried in the least; I knew you'd handle it no-prob."

"Language," Naruto intoned dully.

"It was really cool," nodded Toshi. The action caused his visor to dip a little lower on his brow.

"I could see the whole thing, Sensei!" Ringo breathed. "You were there and then that fire was like—_whoosh—_and you were like—R_aaawr! No!_—and then the fire did an even bigger—_whoosh_!—"

"I think he knows what happened," Toshi cut in. The tall boy was trying to play it cool but the corner of his mouth developed a spasmodic twitch, like he wanted to express his fascination in a similar manner to his friend.

"I've only ever heard of the Uchiha's black fire before, but they say it's as hot as the sun." Oki stated. "Was it?"

Naruto's lips pulled into a half-smile of their own accord, more incredulous than amused.

"I've never been anywhere remotely near the sun, so I couldn't tell you."

"But was it super hot?" she pressed. The girl was leaning over the rail of the bed to the point where she was inches away from climbing atop alongside of Ringo.

Again, Naruto couldn't help but regard the question with cynicism.

"Yes, the fire was very hot."

The woolly assessment only served to spur Ringo's enthusiasm.

"So are you going to teach us stuff like that?" He blurted out. Naruto thought he was joking before he caught sight of the two other equally interested faces.

He stared at the trio like they were idiots.

"No."

"Aw..." "But sensei—!"

"I can't train you to be Sages," he quickly cut off the protests. "I'm simply not capable of that. Besides, I'm in enough trouble as it is for how I handled the situation. The last thing we need is more sages running around."

Oki shared a frown with the other two.

"What do you mean?" she asked. "No one got hurt. It was the best possible outcome."

Naruto glimpsed at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Did you _see_ the forest?"

More glances passed amongst the children.

"Well yeah..." Toshi spoke for his teammate, "But they're just trees. That'll re-grow."

"Just trees huh?" Naruto muttered thoughtfully. He unconsciously ran his tongue over the surface of his molars as a mulling habit. "Konoha's not much of a hidden village if I've burned down all the trees around it, wouldn't you say?"

Again, the kids struggled to find the appropriate response. Naruto was starting to find this fun.

Alas, said fun met a premature end when a soft knock interrupted the quartet. A familiar, slim woman stepped into the room with an easy smile on her face.

"Sorry kids, visiting hours are up."

"Aw man..." Ringo groused; he wanted to get more out of his sensei about the black fire. He slid off the bed and walked with Toshi and Oki toward the exit, passing the woman who he recalled as his classmate Yuu's sensei.

"Naruto-sensei—are you gonna be out soon?" Toshi asked at the doorway.

Naruto never moved his eyes from Sakura's face. Why did he feel like he was looking at her for the first time after a long absence? Did she _always_ have that faint dusting of freckles along her nose?

"Yeah...we'll start some real training in a couple days," He issued absently.

"Sweet!" Ringo grinned and followed Toshi out.

"Bye sensei, bye Haruno-san," Oki bowed on her way out. Not even seconds passed after the door slid shut and the two adults could hear her chewing out her male companions about needing to be more polite.

Naruto bit his lip. He had no idea what to say to a woman who spent so much time on him when he least deserved it.

Naturally, the first thing out of his mouth was: "Come to take away my heating blanket?"

Technically he didn't need it anymore. But it sure was a helluva lot more comfy than the usual hospital sheets.

No—damn it—that wasn't what he meant to say!

Sakura regarded the man before her with bemusement. Ever since she walked into the room he had been openly staring at her. It was starting to make her uncomfortable.

"Actually, I came to give you this."

She held out a large glass with a straw. The liquid within it was an opaque brownish red.

He must have made a face because she elaborated, "Since your body is being uncooperative and wont let us keep needles in you, we need to keep you hydrated orally. Not as good as a saline solution but you tend to adapt nicely enough. Surely, Tsunade-sama told you this?"

"I wasn't listening if she did," he admitted shamelessly while he accepted the glass. Sakura watched as he brought the straw to his lips and then pause. His eyes fell downcast and he pulled the drink away.

"Sakura..."

Sakura started. The tone of voice he used was soft, more emotionally raw than she'd heard from him in years. It was that gentle quality he used to comfort people—she had no idea how much she missed it until she heard it again.

"I don't know where to start." he admitted, "I'm...I'm really sorry."

Sakura began to smile, yet suddenly felt guarded.

"What are you apologizing for, silly?" she asked lightly, "You just saved Konoha. Again. It's what you do."

Piercing blue eyes bore into her own, stealing away her breath with their fervency.

"You know what I mean," Naruto said somberly. "I'm sorry for everything I've done to you. I know I've hurt you so much...by not trusting you about Hitomi and then brushing you off. I admit, at first I was scared when you started to pay attention to me like that...but then I just got used to it. I didn't even think about it anymore. Like it was natural for me to say 'no' to you..."

Sakura's eyes widened and Naruto underwent a wave of self-loathing.

"I know it's inexcusable. Disgusting even—because if anyone deserves the time of day, it's you—"

"Naruto," Sakura interrupted. She still looked relatively stunned. "If you recall...I was the same way. And I'm not talking about the academy or our genin days. Even when I was fifteen, I was scared of changing our relationship—it felt normal to reject you and I was comfortable with that. You don't need to apologize for something I did first."

Naruto groaned, "Sakura...you were fifteen. I am twenty-three. You grew up, I did not."

She just had to scoff at the very notion.

"What are you talking about? You're a _father_. You raised a child all by yourself, you protect this village single handedly all the time. Everything I've done pales in comparison to your accomplishments. You're the one who's grown up. I've gone nowhere."

Instead of immediately disputing her claim, Naruto looked down into his cup. His wavering reflection cast back a doleful visage.

"You're the bravest one out of us, Sakura," He uttered faintly. "The four of us—team seven. No masks or porn or killing rampages or gambling...or...or...meditating. Instead of finding these..." he thought of the term Fukasaku used, "_escapes_...you just meet everything head on. No matter how unpleasant. You've always been so...composed."

Sakura put a hand on her hip. "Are you drugged?"

It was such a ridiculous thing to ask; there was probably nothing stocked in their hospital that could take him down.

"I wish I was half as brave as you are."

"You've gotta be drugged," she muttered, snatching the clipboard hooked on the end of the bed and scanning for any indication of what was last administered to him. Grape juice.

"I wish I just had the guts to ask for help. Done things a little differently. Maybe I could have avoided all this."

"Avoid what, Naruto?" she was starting to get annoyed. "What could there be to avoid? You've done everything in your power to protect us. You've defeated every Akatsuki member you've come across, you saved Konoha from destruction, everyone loves you...why would you change anything?"

"You got hurt," he stated with frank sincerity. "And I can't take back all those years I kept shunning you when you were only trying to help me."

He was looking at her like that again; speaking to her with _that_ voice. Like he cared about why she was there, like he truly appreciated her concern for him, like he wanted to know everything about her. He hadn't openly displayed this much affection to her since before Jiraiya died.

Sakura was mortified to find that she was blushing. She fumbled with the top of the clipboard and tasked herself with reattaching it to the end of the bed.

"J-just drink your juice."

"It's disgusting."

She looked up to face him, blush still present but forgotten. "How do you know? You haven't even tried it yet!"

"I can smell it. It smells like week-old watered down vegetables."

Sakura blew one of her long side-bangs out of her eye and pulled a face at his impudence.

"It's mostly water with some apple juice, ginger and salt—no vegetables involved."

Naruto took a tiny sip, grimacing, "You don't mix fruits and...whatever ginger is! I thought I just needed to rehydrate? Why can't I just have water?"

"The glucose from the apple juice will help your body absorb the water and the ginger is to help with the nausea. You still have trouble keeping down food, right?"

"Yeah...probably because I'm stuck drinking this stuff. Why would I need salt? Wouldn't that dehydrate me?"

"Electrolytes."

"Eff that. This is triggering my gag reflex. I'm going to ralph all over the heating blanket."

She rolled her eyes.

"Oh, just drink it you big baby. The sooner you help us heal you the sooner you can go frolic out in the trees."

Naruto fell oddly quiet at the assertion. He took a deeper sip, swallowing it without fuss.

"I'm not going out into the trees for a while..."

It seemed to be the response she was waiting for, because she suddenly turned bashful. She began shooting him looks that could pass as hopeful or apologetic.

"I...I talked to Tsunade-sama...who talked to Fukasaku. I didn't know if it was true or not...that you might give up being a Sage...?"

Naruto set the cup on the bedside table and folded his hands in his lap. It was still an issue that troubled him. He still needed sage mode. He was sure Madara would prove to be formidable. But he was so afraid of the temptation. It had nearly sucked him in and he hadn't suspected a thing. What if he tried to call upon natural energy and found it too irresistible?

"I'll still use sage mode when I have to," he decided. "Once I feel secure enough to try again, that is. But I can't hide away any more. Not when I have so many responsibilities to myself."

Smiling, Sakura gently settled down at the foot of the bed. The mattress dipped with her added weight.

"Like Hitomi?"

"Yeah," Naruto responded ruefully. "Like Hitomi."

He was staring at her again, with those intense eyes that burned with long forgotten potency, like he was trying to silently express the entirety of what he meant.

_'And you. _You're_ my responsibility. I want you to be a personal one. I want to make it up to you.'_

Sakura suddenly felt scared. It was silly. Or maybe it was just habit: she ran from him, he ran from her. That could have been why she pursued him as persistently as she did; he rarely showed signs of giving in. He was safe.

Naruto was wrong about her; she had her 'escape' as well. She chased people and she had people chase her. She was either in front or behind. Watching their backs or having them watch hers.

She had never walked alongside of someone before—figuratively speaking, that is.

And now an opportunity presented itself for there to be a chance for _them_. Naruto was saying he was willing to give it a try. Him and her. Together. No running.

"I want to see you finish your drink," she thew out with the best air of poise she could muster. Internally, she was trying to quell her hammering heart from the brief bout of excitement she just experienced.

"You're the boss."

For several seconds there was no sound in the room until the straw began scraping along the bottom of the glass, sucking droplets and air.

"All done?"

Naruto nodded but kept his mouth shut. He looked a bit peaked. Sakura was by his side in an instant, her hand against the side of his face.

"Are you going to be okay?" she fretted. She pulled the cup out of his hand and absently placed it on the adjacent table. She tried to focus on his temperature rather than the contrast of his smooth skin and rough cheek bristles.

"That stuff is really bad," he breathed out. He closed his eyes and drowsily pressed into her hand until his lips were centimeters from her palm. The intimacy the action had Sakura's heart pumping faster.

"I-it's only to help you."

"I know. Thank you."

Sakura beamed and cupped his face with both hands, gently pulling him towards her and pressing her lips to his temple.

"You're welcome. I'll go get you a refill."

"Please don't."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

The next day had Naruto waiting impatiently for Tsunade to arrive and grant him liberation. She claimed she needed to administer some physical tests—see if he could actively perform to his full potential after his "illness". She said she'd be there by nine that morning. It was nine thirteen.

The door opened, but Naruto already knew it wasn't who he was waiting for. A young boy silently entered and slid the door back shut, moving in the delicate, slow motions of a ninja-in-training; someone who was still conscious of his movements. He turned to face Naruto with the most serious of expressions.

Naruto couldn't help but smile at the reserved child.

"Hey Keiji, what's up?"

For a moment, the young brunette looked bewildered at being addressed, like Naruto's voice had wiped the reason he came from his mind. Then, after clearing his throat and tugging at the collar of his shirt, he spoke.

"Oh, uh, actually I had a request..."

Naruto thought Keiji looked a bit intimidated. Was he afraid of him?

"Sure," he said easily, hoping to help the youngster relax. "What is it?"

Keiji took one, deep, composing breath and bent forward in a stiff bow, arms straight against his side.

"I...I want you to train me!"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Woo! I typed this all up on an island! Through slinking about w/ my illicitly smuggled laptop (on an island that heavily frowns on technology), and stowing away on a couple boat trips to the mainland for internet access—I have completed and posted another chapter! WORD!

And its an entire chapter in the hospital. I think this is going to be the second-to-last time Naruto needs to be hospitalized. Or should I say **will** be hospitalized—he'll need to be hospitalized plenty of times. In the story, anyway.

Probably one of the more romantic parts of this fic...if that gives you an idea of how romance is prioritized here (i.e. NOT VERY IMPORTANT).

People have survived at 30 centigrade (86ish F)—just none that Sakura's actually seen. You relax.

I am _so_ behind on the manga T_T

Uh...technically this is unedited. Though I went through it a gazillion times myself I guarentee you there's obvious stuff I missed, so sorry about that.

But now it's _KIND OF_ editted because **MegaB** is fantstical like that D

Thank _you_ reviewers for leaving me turds of joy. It's really fun to check my email once a week to see an inbox full of love. And sometimes anger...a pinch of idiocy...but mostly love.

**Next chap**: A rap star returns! Sorta.


	25. The Lucky Stumble

**Chapter 25**

"_I...I want you to train me!"_

"You...what?"

Keiji remained in his bow, hoping, perhaps, that by not having to look Naruto in the eye he would find his words easier.

"You're the best wind-type ninja in the world! Please!" The boy begged.

He wasn't present for what the majority of the village witnessed; Tsunade-sama had him and Hitomi out of the village nearly the second Hitomi's father ordered it. But Keiji would have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to know what happened. It was all anyone talked about these days—the kids at school, the civilians, the older ninja—the Uchiha's unstoppable Amaterasu, thwarted by wind of all things.

"_Yes. It's true that each element has strengths and weaknesses against each other, but wind...wind has the potential to overpower any other element. If you know what you're doing."_

Keiji thought the man was just full of hot air; everyone believed the elements they had an affinity toward were the best.

"_Even fire?"_

But this guy could actually walk the talk.

"_Especially fire."_

He proved even Shikamaru wrong.

"You're the only one in the village who can teach me!" Keiji finished in a near shout, clamping his eyes shut and hoping for the best.

Naruto stared at the kid, baffled. He'd said it before and he'd say it again: this generation was insane.

"Do you even know if you _have_ an affinity for wind?"

Keiji tilted his head up from his bow, "Oh, er, well..."

"No, you don't," Naruto answered for him. "You're not even out of the academy yet."

The man looked at the wall clock.

"And aren't you supposed to be in school right now?"

Keiji straightened slowly and shrugged.

"Does your mom know you're here?" Naruto asked.

"Um, not exactly."

"So you decided to play hooky so you could come and ask me if I could do something I probably can't even do?"

Keiji's shoulders slumped, "I guess."

"Why are you so adamant about it anyway?" pressed Naruto. Keiji had the same cool, silent ambition that he once saw in Sasuke. Fortunately, the boy didn't have a mass murder to screw with his mind or a preceding reputation to live up to. Keiji _did_ take the time to play with friends, he _could_ laugh and be as silly as any other seven year old; he was the sort of boy Sasuke might have been had he not lost his family.

"Well, my father had a wind element," the child explained with some diffidence. In coming to the hospital and making a personal request for training, Keiji banked on receiving either a straight rejection or a bit of negotiating before gaining a tutor. He never expected a thorough questioning.

"He did," Naruto conceded. "He taught me the basics—from which I developed pretty much everything I can do now. I owe him a lot."

"Then train me!" Keiji burst out. "If he was that good then I'm probably one too!"

Naruto shook his head, "I don't think it's a genetic thing. Neither of my parents were wind...that I know of. Besides, Shikamaru won't be happy; he's been looking out for you since before you were born. He's always wanted to train you."

"He will—I mean, he can. But he can't teach me wind-chakra like you can! It's so rare in Fire Country, and I just know I can do it! Please!"

The older male smiled ruefully and rubbed the side of his head. "I already have a genin team who I haven't even begun to train yet. Maybe in a few years I could try...and only _if_ you are wind natured. I think you should at least graduate first, right?"

Words such as 'maybe' and 'if' didn't even register in the youngest Sarutobi's mind.

"And then you'll train me?" he beamed expectantly.

"I'm not promising you anything..." Naruto paused and cocked his head to the side, sensing a familiar and awaited aura. He grinned, quickly throwing the covers off his body, shinnying out of the bed and saddling up along Keiji's side just as the door was thrown open.

"Alright brat, you can—," Tsunade stopped speaking and gave Naruto a flat stare when she realized he was already dressed. "Wasting no time, I see. Well, you're all good to go. Blood work's good, no brain damage—amazingly—and good vitals. Just start your re-training a little slowly, please; lay off the heroic battles for a while if you can. And—Sarutobi Keiji? What are you doing here?"

"Career cultivation," Naruto answered for the poor child who had suddenly become tongue tied at a second authoritative figure scrutinizing him. Tsunade peered at the boy a moment longer before shrugging.

"Ambitious. But I think you'd best get back to class, young man."

"Oh! Uh, yes, Tsunade-sama!" Keiji piped out with a quick bow before scurrying out the door.

"Odd," Tsunade hummed. "Neither of his parents were that...skittish."

"It's the kids at school. There's something in the water. Bad influences everywhere...like the music," Naruto was nodding harmoniously as he padded to the door, step by sideways step. He just realized, at that very moment, that he never actually learned the standard shunshin—something usually taught to new jounin. Not that he needed to—he had developed his own version by observing other ninja and utilizing wind-chakra as a pushing force—but still...it was the principle of the matter. He was, quite possibly, the lamest ninja ever.

The medic rolled her eyes. "Bad role models, more like. Alright, off with you then—go fetch your daughter and do whatever it is you do."

Naruto's face, still pale and drawn from the past week, broke out into a wide smile. He looked ten years younger—and for him, that put him with the rest of his age group.

"See ya Baa-chan!" he saluted before disappearing from sight in a comical whirl.

"Naruto—wait—! Grrr..."

Tsunade blinked several times at the scowling carrot-top who had just appeared rather suddenly; the arrival timed perfectly with Naruto's exit.

Moegi huffed and sent the other woman a disgruntled pout.

"Ya' couldn't have waited two more minutes before you let him go?"

Tsunade shrugged.

"You know how he is: can't sit in the hospital bed unless he's unconscious or incapacitated."

The girl knew she was right and fell back against the wall. "He's different these days. He seems more..."

"Lively?" Tsunade offered and Moegi nodded. "He is noticeably less calm... or more disconnected... however one wishes to view it."

The red-head grinned, "I'm a glass-half-full kind of girl. I'd say he's more disconnected."

"Well, in any case, you'll get to pick apart his seal later," Tsunade said. "I doubt the battle did much to it, despite the huge amount of chakra he expelled, but he did say he required youki for some sway over the Amaterasu, so something of that caliber could have altered it..."

Tsunade trailed off when she noticed Moegi staring at the ground.

"I—It wasn't the seal," Moegi mumbled. "I wanted to see him."

"Oh."

The former hokage stared blankly for a moment, unsure of how to approach the heavy implication. Fortunately, Moegi spoke first.

"He's chosen _her_, hasn't he? I heard it floating around...I didn't know if it was true..."

Tsunade placed a hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed.

"They've both decided to give it a try."

Moegi swore, completely unmindful of the legendary status the woman next to her held. Tsunade chuckled.

"You remind me of Sakura when she was younger; she was quite the spitfire," at Moegi's humorless mien Tsunade had to laugh again. "She's calmed down a lot, of course. I suppose being a medic-nin brought out the nurturer in her. Around the time Jiraiya died she suddenly had this compulsion to take care of Naruto and it's only seemed to grow since. Unfortunately, it was also around the same time Naruto found out he was a father..."

The platinum-blonde wasn't one who believed very easily in fate, but maybe Sakura and Naruto weren't meant to be together until later in life. Tsunade recalled Naruto being _so sure_ that Sakura was the girl for him back when she first met the boy, despite Sakura's obsession with Sasuke. He continued to adore her throughout the years, through his training and back, and just when Sakura started to look his way their lives got shaken up again.

The first length of time they spent apart it was Naruto thinking of her. The second length of time it was Sakura thinking of him. Now, having experienced the same yearning, they both could understand each other a little better.

"If complications kept coming up you'd think they'd give up on each other," Moegi muttered under her breath, not bothering to hide her disdain.

"Distance and time are strange factors when it comes to love. It's both a stressor and enforcer on relationships. Naruto was always attracted to her...I can see why, through it all, he can still think of her as a romantic interest."

"She's not the same girl he had a crush on," Moegi said with what she knew was pettiness. She couldn't help but feel a bit sore after trying to slowly bring herself up in his eyes only to realize it was a wasted effort. And no one could blame her for trying—Naruto was her role model since before he was known as anything but an unwanted jinchuuriki. She saw the potential that the rest of the world had to have shoved in their face before they acknowledged it—including his own teammates. What started as a childish, hero-worshiping crush developed into real attraction once she grew to see him closer to an equal.

"He's not the same boy who had a crush on her." Tsunade countered. "Who they were as children are probably far less compatible compared to who they are now. Right now, Naruto needs someone to take care of him, probably more than Hitomi needs him to take care of her. He's drowning, and he's just recently managed to pull his head above the water to see that there is a lifesaver still waiting for him to grab hold.

"Naruto sincerely trusts you, Moegi. And that's not something he gives out lightly. He especially trusts you with Hitomi. It's not like you'll be cut out of his life if he starts dating another woman."

The girl sighed. "Yeah, I suppose."

Naruto had been pretty exclusive with those that he hung out with and she was fortunate enough to be one of them. Aside from his daughter, Tsunade-sama, Hokage-sama and Sakura, she was probably one of the people he accepted the most. In fact, she saw more of Naruto than Konohamaru did.

That particular pair didn't see much of each other as of late; while Naruto was split between hanging around the village's forests and gathering information abroad, Konohamaru was set on making a name for himself by taking the most dangerous missions he was allowed. Her teammate was already a jounin ANBU and it was rumored he was up for a promotion to captain.

Naruto expressed his dislike at such reckless behavior, stating that, as one of the last renowned Sarutobis, he should take heed in protecting what he still had. Konohamaru thought Naruto had become more of a wimp for opting out of missions when he had such power at his disposal. The younger still couldn't believe Naruto had passed up on the Hokage position multiple times.

It was Moegi's hunch that, in some way, Konohamaru felt betrayed Naruto strayed from their shared dream and moved on into a more complicated life.

Konohamaru wasn't there when she accidently stumbled upon Naruto in that store in Bassai so many years ago. He didn't see what she did: a tired, lonely, scared boy who was trying to be so selfless it was self-destructive. He didn't understand that Naruto's plans in life had to be altered, with or without his approval.

But she did. Moegi understood Naruto and would continue to understand him for as long as she was able. As much as she was annoyed with Sakura at the moment, that woman had the right idea. To be with Naruto wouldn't be about taking, or even sharing. It would have to be about giving.

She would do everything in her power to help Naruto, even with the smallest of tasks, because he mattered that much to her.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Naruto shuffled some ash around with his foot, frowning at the fragile, charred hulls of former tree branches that crumbled at the slightest touch. This was worse than before.

Mounds of black stretched for miles; the once sprightly scenery, flush with fauna, had been transformed into a wasteland with an unfading darkened sky and rank air. He didn't dare connect to the Earth; not while he was standing in his own demolition.

"It'll re-grow," he told himself resolutely. They were the same words used by others who tried to console him, the same words he used to assure himself four years ago after defeating Pein, and, like last time, it did little to help him feel any better.

Yamato had already been enlisted in reestablishing the immediate surrounding forest for the purpose of concealing the west wall of Konoha. The man was currently bedridden due to chakra depletion after managing to resurrect several acres of woodland.

It was far more windy without the the trees to filter the gust. Ash blew all around him, sliding against his face and leaving light, black smudges. It was such a similar picture to that of the Border that it gave him chills.

He _really_ needed to stop going up against fire-affiliated opponents.

"At least Stick is okay," he sighed. The preservation seals would have saved it from any other fire, but Amaterasu would have demolished the seals right along with his favorite weapon.

His hand went to his pocket, gripping the thick ring that he took from Sasuke's cold finger...

He felt fairly sick with himself for making his first stop the morgue and plundering Sasuke's corpse for such an artifact. But it was a necessary evil in his mind; those rings would come in handy for keeping track of the Akatsuki and—hopefully—their ultimate defeat.

Giving his surroundings one last scan, Naruto began his slow walk back to the village. Even though it hurt him to face more carnage by his own hand, he felt the self-abuse was necessary. The clearer he could remember what he was capable of, the more incentive he would have to gain control of himself. It didn't matter to him that he did the impossible, that he used wind against the most powerful type of fire known to man; what happened to the land was unforgivable. He probably killed over a thousand cute, baby animals.

His slow trek was halted when the ground broke open just beneath where he was about to put his foot.

"Naruto-san!"

It was a mole, around the size of a bread loaf, wearing a grey, tasseled scarf and black shades that could have belonged to an Aburame.

Naruto stared in momentary shock at the little critter he nearly stepped on before he gathered his wits.

"Mogura!" he exclaimed. He hadn't seen the summon in months. "What's up? Is Kirabi alright?"

"Yes," the mole answered in its oddly low voice. "Kirabi-nii-chan is fine. It's about Akatsuki. Nii-chan found some camouflaged site, he wants you to check it out with him. He thinks it's the Sealing Statue."

Again, Naruto found himself dumbfounded as he was caught unawares by the news. Slowly, a long forgotten—and oddly missed—excitement began to build within him; the giddiness of the hunt afresh as he realized what that meant.

"Wait...you mean he found the place where the Sealing Statue is stationed when it's _not_ summoned? It's holding spot?" he asked. His breathing picked up pace without his realizing.

"Yeah, I guess so."

Naruto's grin was uncontrollable. "Whereabout?"

"Far, man. Around the coast where Kaze and Taiga meet."

"I—I—Shit...alright," he was shifting his weight from foot to foot. He desperately wanted to race off to said location. Aside from Sasuke snapping and coming to Konoha, Akatsuki had been lying low—low enough for the lack of reports of their movements to become disconcerting for the blond. But at the same time he wanted—_needed_—to see his daughter again.

And it would probably be prudent to tell Kakashi what was going on.

His mind raced through several different scenarios, quickly compiling the the best route to cover all bases.

"Okay, you tell him that I'm sending a specialized clone immediately. I just got out of the hospital and I have some things to do. But I'll be following as soon as I finish up here. Tell him not to do anything stupid until I get there. He can sit on a rock and rhyme about it for all I care."

The fur where the mole's eyebrows would have been moved in a way that would suggest it was rolling its eyes. "He knows that. Thanks Naruto—sayonara!"

"Bye Mogura," he returned as the mole, its message delivered, submerged itself back into the ground.

Naruto's heart was still pounding from the report and a raw charge fueled his blood. A clone was summoned and enhanced in the next few seconds, one every bit as adrenalized as his creator.

"You know what to do."

"Yep," the clone saluted before shooting off to the southwest.

Naruto took a moment to watch it go before drawing a deep breath—and then immediately began hacking as ash filled his lungs.

"Alright," he wheezed to himself. "Go through Konoha, find Kakashi, down to Bassai, find Hitomi, then off to happy hour."

The next moment he was moving faster than he had in a long time, with nothing left to betray his path other than the billowing, sable cloud of unsettled cinders.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Hey! Baby girl! I'm home!"

Technically, he wasn't home—he was at Juhi's bar. But the message was clear enough. He had managed to conduct his business with the Hokage in less than twenty minutes and spared no second in following his provisional plans. He had Kakashi's permission to run amuck with his fellow Jinchuuriki...more or less. He asked him to pass on a message apologizing to Sakura about not taking her along, but this wasn't a 'team 7' mission. All things Akatsuki had now become his personal project—there was no need to involve humans any longer.

Instantly after voicing his arrival, a flying ball of blue and blonde bounced its way face-first into his navel.

"_Daddy!!!_" Hitomi cried, her face already wet with tears. Naruto, bemused, wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pressing her further into his midriff.

"Hey, hey...what's this? I was only gone a week. I've been on longer missions before."

Hitomi pulled her face out of his stomach to glare up at him.

"I'm not stupid, dad! I know what happened! You almost died!"

Her accusatory words hit hard as the onerous memory of what he was willing to let happen resurfaced. That moment when he chose death over his daughter—that single, deplorable moment—would haunt him forever.

"I'm not dead," he said softly. "I would never leave you."

Another stab through the chest—one of searing guilt. Unconsciously, he held her tighter, wanting more than ever to protect her because he loved her so much. She felt remarkably tiny—perhaps it was because she had such a big presence, but sometimes he forgot how fragile she really was. She was only seven; she was far too young to be an orphan.

"And don't say 'stupid'," he added as an afterthought. Hitomi just took a breath into his shirt, tears still leaking down her cheeks.

"Don't leave ever again," she whimpered piteously. "Never ever...I was so scared..."

Naruto couldn't bring himself to say anything in that moment; the shame he felt was too saturated. Instead he began to run the back of a hand up and down her round, downy cheek, lulling the stimulants in her whiskers.

It wasn't long before Naruto could make out the high-pitched motor of a demon-child's purr. His daughter's distress noticeably dropped, her aura evening out with the reassurance of his presence and the relaxant of her stroked whiskers.

"This is almost over," he murmured. "Soon it will just be the two of us. And maybe Sakura."

Hitomi sighed into his shirt and said nothing. She was just glad she had her father back in her sight.

"Alive, are you?" Juhi asked as she walked out of the kitchen while wiping her hands on a dishrag. Her voice shattered the trance Hitomi had begun to fall in, ceasing the purring. Naruto smiled anyway and held out one arm. The woman took the hint and soon he was being hugged at two angles.

"I just thought I'd let you know I've made a full recovery," Naruto quipped.

Juhi pulled away and smiled.

"Thank heavens you're back. This one's been a wreck since that woman dropped her off. What on Earth happened? There was this great black fire in the sky and now people are talking left and right about an Uchiha and you!"

Naruto kept an arm around Hitomi as she continued to cling to the bottom of his shirt.

"Yeah...I was involved. Don't worry, it's all over and done with."

"He's not coming back?" asked his daughter. Naruto looked down at her.

"No," he answered gently. "Never again."

Juhi was a smart enough woman to understand that her surrogate son had killed somebody. She knew he was a ninja, but she never liked to entertain the thought of such a sweet, young man having to take life. Sometimes, when she tried to look at him as the ruthless killer he was trained to be, all she could see was the scared, dirty boy who stumbled his way into her inn over seven years ago.

"I also came to tell you that I'm going on another mission," Naruto added.

"Daddy, no!" Hitomi shouted, startling both Juhi and her father. She looked ready to cry again.

"It's not a bad mission," Naruto assured her. "I probably won't even have to fight."

She pulled away a bit so she could show him her displeased scowl. It was adorable how stern she was trying to look.

"Then why do you have Stick?" Hitomi demanded.

Naruto raised his eyebrows, impressed that she noticed the weapon resting upright against the bar through their brief, albeit distressed, reunion.

"That's just a precaution. I'm going to see Killer Bee, isn't that cool?"

Hitomi pursed her lips. She _did_ like Killer Bee-ojichan...but she liked having her daddy around even better.

"If it's safe, then can I come too?" she tried to bargain.

Naruto laughed. "It's not _that_ safe, but, hey, I'll get you an autograph."

"You promise?"

"Promise."

"And you'll be back soon?"

"Tomorrow at the latest."

She heaved her little shoulders in an exaggerated sigh.

"Alright," she conceded. "But remember—autograph."

"Oh no—is she talking about that nasty rap music?" Juhi grunted as she twisted her face into one of distaste. "Horrible stuff. Yasei plays it all the time in here."

Naruto threw up his hands to stave off being lumped into the same group.

"Hey, you're preaching to the choir. Anyway, I gotta head out—this is a lead I've been waiting for for a long time."

He bent down a bit and planted a light kiss on the top of Hitomi's head.

"You be good, okay? I love you."

Hitomi nodded, but when Naruto went to step away she held fast to his vest.

"Tomi..."

She bit her lip, knowing her father would have little patience for delays on following leads, and reluctantly let go. She didn't feel bad about the tiny holes her claws left. That's what he got for leaving her again.

"It will be fast," he reminded her, hating that he was only upsetting her more. "It will be like I never left."

Teary-eyed, she nodded and rubbed her knuckles into the corner of her eyes.

"I love you too, daddy," she mumbled. Juhi wrapped a strong arm around the thin shoulders of the girl and gave them a comforting squeeze.

"You better come back with zero injuries," Juhi warned. "Because I will not hold this one back if you break your promise to her."

That got a giggle out of the girl and Naruto smiled gratefully.

"Don't worry, I'll be back in time to pull the night-shift tomorrow," he told Juhi before nodding to two of his favorite ladies and taking off at a speed Juhi wouldn't have been able to follow even if she was a trained ninja.

"Autograph!" he heard Hitomi holler through the open window. "Don't forget the autograph!"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

It took nearly eight hours of straight traveling before the Naruto-clone reached his place of destination: a grassy flatland caught in a limestone outcrop that separated the forest and the ocean. The ocean itself wasn't visible, but it must have been very close because the air smelt briny and the roar of crashing waves was more than audible.

It looked to be the sort of place that wasn't disturbed by humans very often, and the only sign of such contact were a few, small tents set up around a smoldering campfire—all stationed in a dirt circle that had the dry grass cleared out.

"Yo! Bee!"

Four individuals who had previously been leaning against boulders or, in the case of one man, doodling in the dirt, looked up as a fifth joined their party. The largest of the original four stepped forward with a jagged grin.

"Naruto!" Kirabi greeted just as enthusiastically. Being the two last Jinchuuriki alive forged a strange, but strong fellowship between the two. "That was fast. You remember my favorite, little students, right?"

He jerked his head toward the three other dark-skinned adults, all of which looked annoyed at being addressed so.

"Master...we are _not_ little genin anymore..." Karui muttered. She narrowed her eyes at Naruto, whom she had met only once, briefly in Taki. He looked to be no older than she was and yet her master seemed to hold him in a higher regard than their own Raikage. As a punk who hopped around barefoot swinging a stick, she couldn't see what was so special about him.

"Oh yeah," Naruto acknowledged. "Omoi, Samui, and...Karui, right?"

He nodded his head towards the three, gaining back a wave, a nod and a 'harrumph'. He held in a smile, for he knew it would only annoy the slim woman further.

"So where is this place?" he asked with barely concealed excitement. He may have been a clone, but he felt the very same adrenaline rush the original did.

"That's it," Kirabi said in his rumbling voice. He pointed to a rather ordinary looking rock face several yards from where they were stationed.

"I still don't see what's so special about it," Omoi said with brazen flippancy, switching his lollipop to the other side of his mouth.

Naruto took a few cautious steps forward and focused all his attention on the exact spot where Kirabi was pointing. He whistled, causing the three others present to look at him curiously.

"It's not something you see," he explained under his breath. "There's a lot of negative energy coming outta that...and it's not human."

"Definitely youki," Kirabi agreed.

"So this is where he summons it from," Naruto continued to speak in the same low, awed voice. "It's like some...some...independent plane of existence...encased in a barrier..?"

Kirabi grinned, feral and caustic, "A little piece of Hell in our world—how sweet."

"Maybe it _is_ a portal to Hell," suggested Naruto. "I mean...I've never quite felt anything so...sinister. Not as concentrated as this, anyway."

The big man nodded, "It's gotta be all those bijuu trapped in there. Power like this can't exist anywhere else in the world. Akatsuki has been keeping tabs on every Jinchuuriki in the last couple of decades; they'd know the best place to store this thing without the chance of it being discovered."

"Not without knowing to actively seek it out," Naruto corrected. "And the fact that the humans can't sense it can only support that theory."

"We're standing right here," Omoi deadpanned. His complaint wasn't processed by either man.

"We couldn't have found this a moment later, either," Kirabi said. "There was talk of going in for the kill—you know, that Pein had just figured out how to alter the runic make-up of the seals to add you in. Man...I thought you were joking when you said they were actually planning on sealing you into it. You really don't have Kyuubi in you anymore?"

Naruto grinned ruefully.

"Oh, he's in me. I mean, he's dead alright, but his youki still exists more or less. I kind of stole it—"

"_HE'S_ THE KYUUBI JINCHUURIKI!" Karui suddenly shrieked. Both Jinchuuriki winced from the audio assault.

Omoi was struck with the same astonishment as Karui.

"Wait-a-minute...this can't be the same Naruto as the Border one...can it?" But already he knew the answer. The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki from Konoha was the one who defeated the powerful terrorist that wielded the Rinnegan.

"It's gotta be..." Karui mumbled, feeling dazed. "How many 'Narutos' can there be in the world...?"

The guy standing just feet away from her was a legend inside and out...but the rumors she heard would have never led her to believe they were the same person. Her sensei didn't talk of _this_ Naruto like he went around destroying first-class criminals single-handedly. He seemed so young and ordinary...and a little strange.

"That explains much," said Samui softly with nothing else to add. She had already drawn her own conclusions long before, but it helped to receive solid confirmation.

"How about you? Finish re-growing your tails yet?" Naruto asked, realizing that they didn't get much into pleasantries in light of such a discovery. Not that he was ever the sort of guy for such a thing.

Naruto received a blinding smile from the large man, who was suddenly in an odd pose involving two back-handed peace signs.

"Yep, back up to eight and feelin' great. Gotta celebrate—"

"Shut up."

Kirabi laughed.

"One day, you'll appreciate the true art in my words," he said, still smiling. Naruto was momentarily struck at how much they resounded Jiraiya's playful claims. "Anyway, now that I'm back at full power I'll spend more time kicking Akatsuki ass and less time rapping. I'd like to see that little punk try and drag me back there this time."

"Sasuke won't be hunting you anymore," Naruto said frankly. His face was unreadable, neither upset nor interested in the topic.

"You don't say?" Kirabi muttered but said nothing more. They didn't need words to finish that particular conversation.

"Can we please get back to why we're here?" Karui butted in. "Sensei, you haven't even explained to us what's so important about this thing."

"I didn't? Alright then. In that barrier—"

"—that you can't sense—" Naruto threw in, earning a scowl from the woman.

"—is some sort of statue that has seven of the nine bijuu sealed inside of it. It's Akatsuki's tool to world domination. All that power compressed into a single item."

"Sounds dangerous." Omoi commented.

"And they want to seal you inside it," Samui directed to Naruto, "because you've absorbed your bijuu?"

Naruto gave her one, resolute nod.

"Yeah, and it looks like they've managed to work in the alterations."

"Even now, it's hard to say how much I can confirm on that front," Kirabi spoke ruefully. "With so few Akatsuki left it's hard to catch wind of their movements these days."

"No, no, I appreciate this," Naruto said. "If we do this right we can delay them for years again...maybe even take out our problems altogether."

Kirabi turned to stare at the fractured slate of rock that held, possibly, the most powerful weapon in the world.

"The problem is figuring out _what_ to do," said the Hachibi jinchuuriki.

Naruto bit his lip, inwardly sharing the sentiments. He took a few steps forward, feeling a strong pull once he was within ten feet of the cliff.

"Careful!" Kirabi warned. "I tried to do the same but—"

Naruto took another step and the pull transformed into a frighteningly powerful wrench; he felt something in the center of his body jerk out of place. He stumbled backwards, not realizing that he hadn't been able to breathe until his entire diaphragm began heaving with great gasps of air.

"What the hell happened?" Omoi exclaimed. Samui had her nodachi in her hand, prepared to attack at the slightest disturbance.

"It tried to suck the youki right out of me!" Naruto hissed, holding a hand to his chest. He could feel his heart hammering at the close call.

"I tried to warn you," Kirabi chuckled. Naruto scowled at him.

"It's not funny."

He could have died! One more step forward and it would have all been over...

Kirabi was still snickering, "It was sort of funny."

"Tch. So _we_ can't get close to that—," Naruto gestured to the rock-face, "—but what about you guys?"

He looked to the three humans present.

"We were ordered not to go near it," Samui stated. Naruto turned towards Kirabi.

"Didn't want to take any chances at the time," Kirabi said. "Not after finding out what happens to us."

"I'll go," Omoi volunteered. "If I approach it slowly, I'm sure nothing too bad can happen. I mean, we can't even sense it—"

Oddly enough, with the decision to advance firm in his mind, Omoi faltered in his very first step.

"Oh...uh...wow," he muttered. "I never realized how much I didn't want to be near that thing until I decided to get closer."

"You don't have to do it," Karui said, softly. She too was making the same discovery. It was so easy to overlook at first because they had no plans on touching it. But now the resistance was palpable, a negative drive against her instincts that she knew her teammate was feeling at that moment.

"No, it's not that big of a deal," Omoi insisted. He slowly began to walk closer in a similar gait to what Naruto approached with. But there was a hesitance in his step that Naruto had lacked, a weariness from witnessing someone else experience it's unseen power. What was once an inkling in the back of his mind ballooned into a screaming force that demanded he turn around and run for the sake of his immortal soul. The fine layer of hair on his body rose and his blood vessels constricted as epinephrine instinctively released into his system. Still, he walked on.

"Feel anything?" Naruto asked. Omoi was now closer to the stone wall than either Naruto or Kirabi managed to get.

"I-I'm fine," sweat broke out across the man's forehead as he pushed foreword. "It's trying to r-repel me...but I...I can..."

His foot was raised, his hand outstretched, reaching towards the rocks that were only feet away, when Omoi gasped and staggered backwards, throwing himself to the side as he retched into the tall grass.

"Omoi!" Karui shrieked and Samui had leapt to his side, dragging him away from the hazardous zone.

"M'fine—just—" he coughed some and moaned. Samui put a hand to his forehead.

"He'll be all right," she said. "He was just too close to such a condensed amount of demonic chakra."

"Well..." Kirabi began slowly. "Now we know it repels humans. Sure you're alright, Omoi?"

Omoi waved a hand over his head, signaling his vitality, before accepting a canteen of water from Karui.

"At least he wasn't exposed to straight up youki," Naruto said. "No burns or physical, lasting damage. But for a human to react so strongly is concerning. There's gotta be a lot in there."

"Do ya' think that's a property of the barrier, or is the statue itself just that powerful that it's leaking through?" Kirabi asked.

"Hard to say. Shit...and even from here I feel compelled to go closer. That scares me," Naruto admitted. Because, clearly, he had enough self-control issues to deal with.

Kirabi was nodding.

"I feel it too," he said. "That's one of the reasons I wanted you here. You're way better at seals than me. Think you can figure anything out?"

"I have some theories..." Naruto conceded. "I think such a high concentration of youki is pulling our own towards it. I don't know this for certain but...if we get too close to it..."

"It can rip our demons out," Kirabi finished, looking grim.

"The demonic power radiating from it allows no human to get close to it...but those with a bijuu inside them could have the demon ripped out...this...it's...it's almost like it's magnetic. It's too dangerous for anyone here to get near enough to dissect the barrier."

"Goddamn it," Kirabi swore. It would be just their luck to stumble upon this gem only to learn that none of them could get near enough to do anything about it.

"However..."

Kirabi turned to see Naruto grinning in spite of their revelation, watching the whiskers twitch.

"...I think I know who can help us."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"So...he's gone. Again."

Kakashi exhaled deeply and pinned his once student with a look of tedium.

"He said it would be a short trip. But it was very important and could give us a huge advantage over Akatsuki."

To be honest, the Hokage found himself quite annoyed at Naruto. The blond knew Sakura would be upset with him for leaving without warning and he knew Sakura would gripe at Kakashi for letting him go.

"But this is _Akatsuki_,"_ Sakura_ stressed. "Anything is dangerous with those guys. How could you let him go alone? And after he just got out of the hospital!"

Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose, having already gone through this conversation a dozen times in his head before Sakura had predictably barged in.

"Sakura, Naruto is exponentially more powerful than just about anyone I could have sent with him. He handles himself just fine against Akatsuki. Besides, he doesn't expect to be fighting this time around. It's just a bit of recon."

"This is all happening too fast," the pink-haired woman groaned, settling herself on the edge of Kakashi's desk. She pushed her palm against her forehead as the tips of her fingers buried themselves into her hair. "First Sasuke shows up and Naruto has that fall-out with nature...and now he jumps right back into Akatsuki business after getting out of the hospital."

Kakashi nodded, admittedly in complete agreement.

Discovering that Sasuke had been only miles away from throwing his village into utter ruin, and knowing what Sasuke was capable of—the Amaterasu—was terrifying for the normally composed man. It was a hard situation to deal with; ordering his ninja around, knowing all the while that it could have been a fruitless fight. Watching Naruto go after Sasuke, and then Sakura go after Naruto, had been even harder. But there had been no other way—even looking back on it he couldn't think of a better course of action. Naruto was Konoha's Jinchuuriki and Sage. He was government property, the village's ultimate tool, an overall powerhouse used to prevent collateral damage.

It was easier for Kakashi to ignore such a notion when he was just a jounin wanting to protect his students. He could look the other way on certain colossal matters and focus on what was best for Naruto, not their village. Whereas now, being the Hokage, Naruto promptly transformed into an asset. An annoyingly independent, quirky asset that could only be directed at best—never controlled.

Naruto was difficult to deal with because he wasn't the average shinobi, and he both knew it and took advantage of it. He often made his own rules, assigned himself his own missions, all the while only informing Kakashi of what his plans were at the last minute—just as he did only a few hours earlier. And all Kakashi was able to do was nod, knowing that Naruto had the information and power he did not concerning such a matter.

Somedays Kakashi felt like he was having his power usurped. Other days he felt like he shouldn't have had this position in the first place, so it didn't matter. Fortunately, for both him and Konoha's reputation, the rest of the world was under the assumption that Naruto was only following orders when it came to fighting Akatsuki, and Kakashi was more than willing to let them think that. He trusted Naruto wouldn't do anything to make him look foolish.

"I really doubt he'll be getting up to anything too dangerous," Kakashi spoke aloud. "He promised it was relatively harmless."

Sakura didn't look as assured.

"_Relatively_? He doesn't have his sage-goggles on anymore," she pointed out. "I mean—I'm happy that he's paying attention to m—to everything now," she blushed at her fumble, "but his senses have been dulled down to a more human level. He doesn't have his wide scope of surveillance with sage mode. He's that much more easy to be caught unawares!"

"I wouldn't call any of his senses "human"," Kakashi remedied. Sakura growled.

"I'm serious sensei! I mean, come _on_, he was delirious just two days ago! How can you possibly trust his judgement?"

"What else can I do?" asked Kakashi in frankness. "Should I have said 'no' to him over something that could be a huge boon for Konoha? Would he have listened? Who would have stopped him?"

"_I_ would have," Sakura muttered in contempt. Kakashi graced her with a dull stare and she knew as well that she couldn't stop Naruto from doing much of anything nowadays. She huffed loudly. "I just wish you'd sent me with him. I feel like I should be keeping an eye on him now more than ever."

"He seemed in a hurry; he's probably halfway across Fire Country now. And he only gave me a general idea of where he was going, so sending someone now would be futile. Especially if it's going to be as quick as he made it sound. This could very well just be a fleeting opportunity."

Sakura was silent for a very long while. Her arms were crossed as she looked over Kakashi's head to the wide window that surveyed the village. She knew, if she wanted to be with Naruto, she would have to accept that this was the sort of work he would do all the time. It only made her anticipate the day he settled down and became Hokage; he'd be so much easier to look after.

"You're _sure_ this is as simple and safe as he made it sound?"

"Yes," Kakashi reassured her. "Like I said: I doubt he'll get up to much."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Famous last words.

Yosh! I am stealing wifi at an EconoLodge. In a Burger King parking lot. Badassity abound.

So at this camp I work at, they have the British version of the first Harry Potter book, and I would skim through it whenever I found it laying around. Besides learning that the British spell Halloween with an apostrophe in the middle of it, something else came to my attention:

"Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around bouncing off the back of his turban." – p 143, _Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone_ UK version.

Fred and George Weasley pelted Voldemort in the _face_. With snowballs. As thirteen year olds.

Epic win.

Anyway, thank you all for reviewing! I'm glad so many people are responding well to the direction I have this story going in. Things are obviously picking up a bit, there'll be a little timeskip in a couple chapters and then some major Akatsuki action.

So review! Eat, drink and be thankful you can wake up in your own bed! I'm great friends with the spiders hanging over my head but I am starting to miss it.


	26. A Most Stupid Plan

**Chapter 26**

"Why the hell is Gaara here?"

When Naruto arrived on scene to pick up where his clone left off, he never expected to see an old friend standing stoically to the side, arms crossed and gourd strapped across his back in its usual fashion.

"Oh!" the Naruto that had been with the team of Kumo-nins smacked its forehead and dispelled. In the time it took for the newly arrived—and real—Naruto to gather his bearings at the foray of memories, Karui had already begun to freak out.

"What the fuck?! What's going on? Why...he...and then..."

She pointed wordlessly to where the clone-Naruto once stood and to where the real Naruto just came from.

"He was a clone," Samui intoned as though it were obvious.

"The whole time?" asked Omoi. He received a single nod from the woman. "Balls. I should have seen that coming."

It took much blinking and a short, cutesy head-shake that threw Naruto's bangs into his eyes to set his mind straight. Immediately afterwards, Naruto strode past Kirabi's three subordinates and shook Gaara's outstretched hand.

"Er...not that it's not great to see you or anything," he amended his initial greeting with a sheepish chuckle.

"I just arrived as well," said Gaara, whose face would have been blank if not for the tiny smile playing at his lips. "You were the one who sent me this, were you not?"

He held up a crinkled piece of paper to Naruto's face.

"That was my idiot clone," Naruto sighed, looking at the hastily scribbled message ("Come here now!") and the mass of squiggles that _may_ have been meant as a map. There were dotted lines and a skull and crossbones and a little volcano with stick-figure victims being burned alive by lava. Luckily there were coordinates for the sound of mind to follow underneath the diagram, as well as a more detailed reason to do so.

Kirabi's looming shadow passed over the item, blocking the sunlight that aided its legibility.

"We think the Akatsuki's Sealing Statue is sealed within those rocks," he stated, getting right to the point. Kirabi never met the Kazekage before—heard about from time to time, corresponded with once or twice (per request of Naruto)—but never was there any face to face communication. The kumo-nin wasn't one to trust easily and quite glad of the fact, for ninjas had no place for such callowness. But, for some reason or another, he felt the same consciousness of ease around Gaara as he did with Naruto and, before her capture, Yugito.

It was strange, as Hachibi always said the demons were very competitive beings that couldn't stand to be in each other's presence without succumbing to violence...yet, for their hosts, it was the opposite. It was a rare case where instincts lost the battle against the basic human need for kin.

"Ninety-nine percent sure," Naruto annexed. "Once you walk close enough to it, you can totally feel it."

So Gaara did just that, no words necessary. He strode forward at an even pace, past the point where Naruto panicked, past the point where Omoi got sick, and right up to the invisible barrier plating the cliff wall.

"How is he getting that close?" said Samui in undertones. To see two people react so strongly to this enigma and then watch another simply stroll forward unaffected baffled her.

"He's immune to the youki," Naruto explained. "He's been exposed to it since birth."

"But he's got nothin' left to suck out," Kirabi finished, suddenly figuring out Naruto's aim. He slapped the shorter man on the back. "Good call, tree-hugger."

Naruto gave a weak grin and squashed the urge to rub his shoulder. It stung.

"How you feelin'?" he called to Gaara instead, who now stood with his palm pressed against the barrier, remarkably unmoving.

Gaara stared at the hand which touched the wall.

"I...I can feel Ichibi."

The unexpected wanton in the response had Naruto narrowing his eyes.

"You want him back?"

"It's been...weird without him," Gaara played down with careful slowness.

Kirabi nodded, crossing his arms.

"Stranger than fiction, being human."

To which Naruto grinned and said, "Well put."

"Again, we're right here," Omoi muttered with mild exasperation evident in his voice. There was nothing wrong with being human. Per se.

Gaara pulled his hand away from the barrier with great reluctance and faced the last, two Jinchuuriki.

"I feel a connection, but it can be ignored," he surmised. A simple report that exposed a window of opportunity.

"So you feel the pull as well...only, much less strong than ours," Kirabi murmured.

"And it's a pull towards his demon," Naruto threw in. Excitement fluttered in his stomach as they made another progressive step towards finishing off Akatsuki. "At least we know he can touch the barrier without getting hurt. This is brilliant!"

"And what exactly are we looking for?" Gaara asked.

"This barrier's been grounded by a certain complex of seals," Naruto explained. "We need to find where those seals are located and what kind. They've got to be around the base of the barrier—or at least the majority of them do..."

Gaara had already steadied his flexed hand toward the intended target as Naruto spoke.

A brief, dramatic suspension elapsed before gallons of sand burst forth from his gourd in a sudden rush of movement. It flew through the air with majestic flair and knitted around their focus, making an outline to the exact shape of the barrier—a dome that went up and above the cliff wall and disappeared around the edges of the giant rock.

Within a second of completing the thin crust, areas of the sand began to pull away from the covering and mold into a magnified, pop-out replica of whatever seal it just discovered. One-hundred and seventy grainy relics stood out in the air in clear visibility, all within moments of Naruto voicing his desire.

Naruto swore he could feel his bottom jaw unhinge as he stared, flummoxed, at the spectacle.

Finally, he managed to choke out, "Gaara...you are awesome."

The young man's wide beam was so infectious that even the Kazekage had to crack a smile.

"Alright!" Kirabi crowed. "Now what?"

Naruto, still smiling, cocked his head to the side and observed the display of seals.

"Well...this may take a while, but I need to study these some. Gaara, know much about seals?"

"No."

While somewhat expecting that answer, Naruto still felt a bit put out.

"Okay then...Well..." his mind was racing once more, trying to figure out the best solution. "I recognize the majority of these individually, but these sequences are a bit unfamiliar. I mean, they would have to be to contain something like Akatsuki's Sealing Statue. But...this is beyond my skills."

"Great—so there's nothing we can do?" Karui huffed as she wiped her brow. It was the second day she spent in that small field and the weather this far south was much too hot for her liking.

"I need more paper," Naruto said to Samui, ignoring the other woman. Samui nodded once and tore out a portion of a black scroll she had in her pack, handing it to Naruto.

"What are you doing?" Omoi asked as Naruto began to replicate the giant insignia on display and put it onto paper.

"I'm going to send this to our fuuinjutsu expert in Konoha," Naruto muttered, concentrating on the task at hand.

"That's a good idea," Gaara noted and held out a hand to Samui who, upon realizing what he wanted, grudgingly handed him a piece of paper as well.

It took the two men several minutes to copy down all the seals; they had to travel around the barrier, climbing up the crag and, in Naruto's case, making sure to keep far enough away not to experience any ill effects. The entirety of the barrier turned out to be nearly fifteen meters in diameter and twenty meters high, which only served to fuel their imaginations on how big the Statue was.

"To Moegi," Naruto ordered his clone the second it came into existence and received its message.

Gaara formed a bird of sand and handed his letter to it.

"Race you," Naruto challenged as both bird and clone shot off in different directions.

"Suna's much closer and traveling by air is faster," Gaara pointed out, but did not rebuff the challenge.

"Yeah, but _you_ have to count time for a response."

Naruto smirked and tapped his head, indicating the connection with his clones. Gaara did not back down and returned a smirk of his own.

"We shall see."

"So what do we do now?" asked Karui. "Just wait?"

"Looks like it," Kirabi said. He held a hand over his eyes and glared at the sun, noting that it was late into the afternoon. Like his students, he wasn't a fan of being out in the sun for so long, especially in such an open atmosphere. He preferred more dark and cooler climates.

"How long can you be away from Suna?" Omoi asked the Kazekage. "I mean, aren't kages not supposed to leave their village without a guard?"

Gaara kept his eyes trained on Naruto, who returned to the airborne seals to scroll over what was identifiable, and answered, "My siblings are handling things in my absence. There shouldn't be any problems for the next few days and I am more than capable of taking care of myself."

"How's Temari doing?" Naruto threw over his shoulder. He poked a floating symbol with his finger, the one that stuck out farthest from the barrier. It was unfamiliar to him.

"If you're asking if she still thinks Shikamaru is an "uninspired, fickle, and sluggish excuse for a shinobi", then yes, she does. And yes, she is still bitter that he wouldn't move to Suna."

"Thought so...Oh yeah!" Naruto spun away from the seals and looked to Kirabi. "My daughter wants your autograph—I promised her one. All the kids are listening to your music now."

"No kidding!?" Kirabi grinned and began to rub his chin, no doubt scheming up ways to reach out to every generation with brilliant lyrics.

"That is not a good thing," Naruto said tonelessly. "You're corrupting our youth. You won't believe the things my gennin are singing..."

At one point Ringo tried rapping to him in the hospital as a form of holistic healing. Needless to say, it had the opposite effect.

"How old's she now?" Kirabi asked absently as he fished around in his pack for a cassette to autograph. "Seven? It's been forever since I last saw her..."

Naruto inclined his head and wore a rueful smile, "She's gonna be eight in a couple months. I can't seem to stop her from growing."

"You...have a daughter?" Karui asked haltingly.

Naruto brightened and smiled winningly. It took all of Karui's self control not to blush; when he acted normal he was rather attractive.

"Oh yeah! Wanna see?" without waiting for an answer he was fishing around in his vest pocket, pulling out a worn photo and holding it to the woman. It was Hitomi when she was six with Fuzzwad curled around her neck like a mink scarf.

Kirabi held in a snort. Leave it to Naruto to carry around a picture of his kid in this accursed world.

"Aw...she's cute," Karui said, leaning in for a closer look. Maybe Naruto was older than she thought. He wasn't so bad now that she had a bit more information on him. Like how he was an all-powerful Sage and probably more than deserving of the respect Kirabi-sensei gave him.

Omoi popped up over Karui's shoulder.

"Is that thing real?" he asked. Naruto gave him a flat stare.

"No. It's a very life-like doll that I pretend is my child."

The other man sighed, "I _meant_ the animal..."

"Oh him? Yeah. That's her pet fisher. You remember Fuzz-wad...right Gaara?"

Gaara appeared inexpressive, but the twitch in the corner of his eye gave away his sentiments.

Of course he remembered Fuzz-wad. What started as a simple, diplomatic, business trip turned into a migraine inducing incident when Hitomi, under the cute pretense of sitting on his shoulders, decided to put animal crackers in his gourd, luring the mammal inside as well. It took almost twenty minutes to get it out and by that time the demon creature had relieved itself all over his battle sand.

"Yeah...It's a good thing you're so forgiving," Naruto continued, feigning obliviousness to the unamused glare.

"Sensei...shouldn't we figure out our options _if_ we do get past this barrier?" Samui interrupted. "We didn't come here for a reunion and reminiscing."

"Ah yes...got any ideas, Naruto?"

Naruto clapped his hands together with enthusiasm, "Not-a-one."

"Let's recap what we know," Gaara stated, squashing the urge to cuff his friend upside the head. "We know for certain that it's _that_ Statue...but what can we do with it?"

"Can't we just destroy it?" Omoi tried. "If we destroy it then what's left of Akatsuki would become relatively harmless for quite a while. Long enough for me to get on with my life, retire, and settle down with a cute girl...hm...preferably one from Iwa...they got some solid curves going on..."

Naruto shook his head.

"Even if any of us had the power to do so, the chakra backlash of seven bijuu being released would be colossal. Not only would it kill us," he made a circular motion with his finger, indicating their ensemble, "it would also probably take out anything in the next...oh...hundred mile vicinity."

"Actually, it's said to be able to obliterate an entire country," Kirabi noted.

Naruto threw his hands up. "Well there ya' go. Destruction, vetoed."

"Maybe we can hide it?" Karui tried next.

"That is a stupid idea," Samui shut her down. "Things that are summoned are usually summoned from wherever they are."

Naruto felt a brief, euphoric idea spark within his mind before being crush by reality.

"Dammit," he cursed. "We could really use a sharingan right now. Send this thing into a whole other dimension..."

"Doesn't your Hokage have one?" Samui asked.

Naruto hummed and frowned. "Yeah, but it would kill him. No doubt. I mean, this thing is filled with demons, and he had a hard enough time with sending Deidara's arm to God-knows-where."

Silence fell among the group as they tried contemplating what they could possibly do with such a weapon.

"Do you think...do you think _he_'ll know?" Omoi asked to no one in particular.

"Who? Pein? Definitely," Kirabi said and Naruto hummed.

"He'll probably even know if we breach the barrier," Gaara put forward. "He could be here within minutes."

Karui looked visibly alarmed.

"Then should we even be messing with this thing?"

Naruto waved her off, looking completely mellow with the easy grin on his face. Such self-assurance may have been able to soothe her, if she didn't already have his sanity in question.

"Even if he comes here...it's not like he can kick our asses," he said. "And he especially can't kick all three of our asses."

"There are six of us," Karui rectified.

"We're humans," Omoi told her. "Apparently we mean nothing."

"But he _can_ control the Statue," Gaara pointed out, not even registering Omoi's comment. "And we cannot match up against several bijuu."

Naruto's head shot over to him so fast that Gaara actually took a step backwards.

"That's it..."

"What's 'it'?"

But Naruto had turned away from him, staring at the ground with his eyes moving from side to side as if he were reading the answer inscribed in the dirt. His lips were making minute jerks, as though he were forming silent, half-words.

"We release the bijuu," he finally breathed, lifting his head to see the reactions of his company. He received five, nearly-identical, inscrutable stares.

"You're kidding...right?" Samui was the first to speak after wondering, not for the first time, if this man was all there in the head.

"Nope." Naruto chirped. "Release them into the wild. Let them be free. You know—animal rights and all that."

"They're _demons_," Omoi stressed. He looked to his sensei, who appeared neither sold on the idea nor opposed.

"Bijuu are pure energy; they're a part of Nature," Kirabi mused in a rather ambiguous response.

"I can't believe I'm hearing this," Samui whispered to herself. She crossed her arms under her ample chest and glanced at the redheaded man who had yet to voice his opinion. "What about you, Kazekage-sama? Would you condone this?"

"I can see how it would harm Akatsuki..." Gaara began quietly, "But I can also see how it can harm us. If the demons aren't under the Akatsuki's influence, it will only make them fair game for the great nations once again."

Naruto readily yielded to that.

"Believe me, I don't want them available for recapture any more than you do, especially if it will just start the Jinchuuriki cycle all over again. But that's a cycle that's out of our hands for now. Once we get this Akatsuki crap settled, I say we coerce the other villages into some non-aggression pact banning the creation of Jinchuuriki."

"The question is: how much time this will buy us?" Kirabi stressed. "Will it be worth the risk in releasing these things? Or will it only cause more trouble for us in the long run?"

"That's something we won't be able to answer until afterwards, I'm afraid." Naruto responded. "But we do know that Akatsuki are dangerous—Madara most specifically—and if we leave this now it _will_ come around to bite us in the ass. Me especially. I don't want to join them in there..."

"I suppose it's better to let them quarrel over it while we deal with the ones we know can't be trusted with it," Gaara said. "As long as there is power, people are going to fight for it. Especially power as potent and malleable as a demon's,"

"Except it isn't malleable, it's all about compromise," Kirabi identified.

"Too bad Kyuubi never accepted that," Naruto remarked with a woeful shake of his head. He often wondered, had he gotten along with Kyuubi, if he would have felt guilty about his part in destroying the beast.

Kirabi, who had never fully understood why Naruto couldn't connect with his demon, bobbed his head.

"Yeah, he may have been the only one. Yuugito—rest her soul—never had trouble with Nibi."

"Kyuubi was just a whiney bitch," Naruto laughed. He found it nice to joke about something that very few people in their world could comprehend.

"Oh, but Gaara never got along with his either, did he?" Kirabi pointed out.

"Whoever did Gaara's seal was retarded."

"I'm standing right here..." the Kazekage inflected. "My father was many things, but a retard was not one of them."

"Fine. He was an incompetent jackass then."

Omoi, Samui and Karui were wise in making themselves comfortable as they watched the three super-humans discussed the pros and cons of releasing the demons for the next hour, all the while making wildly inappropriate jokes about their own stature as Jinchuuriki.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

It was late into the night when the first bout of interpretation returned in the form of Naruto leaping from the rock he was lounging on and scribbling nonsense into the dirt, muttering: "I got it, I got it, I got it..."

"What?" Karui yawned, having just stirred from a light catnap. "What have you got?"

"I understand—I think—"

Naruto cut off his mumblings as the heavy flutter of wings descended upon them. Soon enough a beige bird released a roll of paper from its beak and into Gaara's outstretched hand before crumbling into sand.

"Over here," Naruto directed absently. "Let me see..."

Gaara crouched next to Naruto, holding out the interpretations of his homeland seals experts. Naruto kept switching his gaze from what he scribbled in the loose ground to the Sand scroll; making alterations on what made more sense, compiling the sudden onslaught of information and rearranging it into something that could be used.

"I win," Naruto hissed to Gaara as his fingers worked tirelessly in the dirt.

"Shut up," Gaara clipped.

Together they compared responses. The problem with seals was that, depending on the sequence, they _could _be open to interpretation. And there happened to be quite a few instances where Suna and Konoha saw different meanings. All the same, the points where they were unanimous were the most helpful to Naruto; little by little he was able to build a proper reasoning.

The Kumo ninja sat patiently as Naruto plowed through his assessment. They watched in silence, listening to nothing but the softly crashing waves and the polyphonic chirps of long-grass crickets and the blond's faint musings. In the oddest fashion of analysis, the man stayed on his hands and knees, crawling around an ever-growing cartogram with agitated movements. He would hum to himself, click his tongue and furiously rub something out of the dirt, knit his eyebrows together and murmur a "that can't be right" or a "it _must_ mean this"....

The torrid atmosphere had cooled considerably once the sun had hidden from view; the heat dissipated into the air and the cool pressure rising from the Earth overrode the former humid climate. It was an ambiance that pulled a certain tranquility over those who could not contribute to the puzzle. After twenty minutes of sitting still, Karui was about to close her eyes for a second nap.

"Alright! I think I got this!" Naruto exclaimed, springing to his feet and brushing the dirt from his pants. The volume of his voice was so loud compared to the previous lull that nearly everyone present jerked. Karui was left swearing as she slipped off her roost and landed hard on her butt-bone.

"So—tell us what you got," Kirabi prompted. He sat forward on a dried out log he dragged over from earlier and rested his forearms on his knees.

"Okay," Naruto took a breath, glancing over the mass of scribbles one last time before speaking. "I guess I should start by saying that I already had some previous knowledge about the Sealing Statue. I mean...I had my suspicions, but now I know that it's the Statue itself that draws our youki. It's a property that aids in the extraction of bijuu from their hosts. While the Statue is both a container—a replacement host—and a weapon, it can't be _used_ as a weapon. Not yet anyway. Its status is marked by how many of the nine eyes on it are open; as long as there is at least one eye closed, it cannot release the demons while maintaining control over them."

"So if we do release some demons, we now know for a fact that they won't be under Akatsuki's control," Gaara said softly. It was another point in favor of their farcical plan.

"And it still has an eye closed?" Samui asked for confirmation.

Naruto patted his stomach.

"Two, in fact. The eye never opened for Hachibi because it was only a fraction of its youki."

Kirabi flashed Samui a peace sign—to which she rolled her eyes.

"This barrier is more of a net than anything else," Naruto continued. "It's not some other dimension like we originally thought; it's transparent in regards to seal structure, so a good number of the seals we sent for analysis were actually visible right off the the Statue itself. I think that's what had things so confusing at first," he looked to Gaara with half a shrug. "But once I figured out that much, I managed to get a better grasp on the Statue.

"What we originally thought were properties of the barrier were really from the Statue. Because the youki oozing from the Sealing Statue does its repelling job on its own well enough—it creates its own shield. That's why the structure of the barrier is so flimsy: to allow the Statue's powers to take care of warding off humans."

"Then what's the point of this 'net' if the Statue does everything for itself?" Kirabi asked. Naruto lifted a finger.

"Two points. Camouflage," he held up a second finger, "and it's a trip wire."

"A trip wire?" Omoi mumbled, rubbing his jaw. His tooth hurt. He was probably getting another cavity.

"Yes," Naruto said, grinning. "It's actually rather remarkable. I'm almost positive it signals to Pein if the barrier's been tampered with, and from there he can reverse summon himself."

"Of course," Samui gasped. "Summoning is a two-way transit. That's brilliant."

"Do you think he created his own contract for this thing?" Karui asked.

"Never mind that," Kirabi cut in. "Can anything be done?"

Slowly, Naruto nodded.

"I can alter this...pretty quickly, I think...but—er—Gaara...can we get your sand graphics back up there?" He looked pointedly at the man in question.

Wordlessly, Gaara focused his sand back around the barrier from where it had fallen in his rest. Once again, the group was granted with the impressive sight of giant seal molds pulling away from the temporary dome and hardening into readable structures.

"Cool..." Naruto beamed. He would never get tired of seeing that happen.

Clapping Gaara on the shoulder as he moved past him, Naruto approached the closest of the symbols, toeing the line where he would feel that contemptible pull, and addressed the group at large.

"You see...the great thing about this is we have it in three-D..." he traced his finger lightly over one just inches above his head. "These ones that are farther out are a part of the net...but the ones you have closer to the middle are actually being read off of the Statue itself."

"And that's...good?" Omoi voiced for clarification.

"It means he can have an idea of what to do to the Statue in the limited timeframe we have after breaking through the barrier," Gaara gathered for him.

"Yep!" Naruto quipped. "All I really need to do is break off the kitsui and kinzuru seals right there," he pointed to two intricate shapes hovering just outside the rock face, "which is easy for me without getting too close to it. And then the basic soutei structure will be messed up enough for one strong chakra hit to—

"Naruto!" Kirabi interrupted, disgruntled. "No one knows what you're talking about. Just tell us what we have to do."

"Uh, right. Sorry. You all need to help with breaking the barrier—it's set up so that it needs at least six people for any alterations...probably one for each of his bodies..." he looked around, "perfect!"

"And then he'll know, won't he?" Samui stated in clear disfavor. She wanted it known that she didn't agree with the plan. "How long will it take for him to get here?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Naruto answered weakly, but it was the best he could give her. "Which is why it's best if you escape as fast as you can the second you've played your part. Don't stick around to take a picture or graffiti it or whatever you'd do to a piece of history. Just run."

His audience, once serious in rapture, reacted with cautious perplexity.

"Why the hell would we take a picture?" Karui whispered to Omoi after a moment of wondering if Naruto was serious.

"And if we run, after breaking the barrier...what about you?" Kirabi's face was hardened with indifference, but Naruto could sense his concern.

"I'll be fine," he assured him. "Trust me. My biggest danger will be being too close to the Statue when I break it. No matter how fast Pein gets here, if I can get just one demon out, it will be enough to ensure I can escape from him with little hassle."

"Would you...graffiti it if you could? Gaara finally asked out of morbid curiosity.

"Well of course." Naruto remarked and he had the gall to look at Garra as if he were mad. "I'd write something profound like: "_Naruto wuz herrrr boi_".

Samui grasped her forehead with one hand and applied pressure to her temples.

"Hey, I don't blame you. I'd mark my territory if I could," Kirabi supplied. Akatsuki threatened his freedom and his home; defacing their prize weapon after breaking it would only nettle them and he certainly wasn't above kicking someone when they were down.

"Or maybe do a hand turkey," Naruto added, starting to have fun with the idea. "You know...something cool."

He may have just enjoyed watching the stacked chick react so strongly to any sort of folly. She now looked relatively grim, visible even with only the pale moonlight to illuminate her face, and barreling Kirabi with pleading looks that openly begged for him to see reason by _not_ taking part in releasing the demons.

Just to make matters worse, Naruto held his hand out in front of him, fingers splayed, as if picturing said turkey.

Gaara was sad to realize that his friend lost a little more clarity every time he saw him.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Of the one-hundred and fifteen windows fashioned into Konoha's administration building, only eight or so currently gave off the soft, yellow glow that indicated a presence. And of these eight, one emitted the largest glow of all—the wide dome of windows signature to the Hokage's office.

All was still within the room, save for the slight rise and fall of a hunched over back and a gentle rustle of papers as they were rattled by even breaths.

Soft knocking rapped against the wood of Kakashi's door and he started from his snooze. Blearily, he lifted his head from the desk, squinting at the clock that told him it was nearly three in the morning.

"Kuh—," he yawned, "Come in."

The door creaked as it opened and an orange-topped head popped in first, followed by the slight body.

"Sorry to bother you, Hokage-sama," Moegi uttered in undertones. It was so late, and there was so little movement around the village at this time, that she would have felt weird speaking any louder.

"Not at all, not at all," Kakashi waved and signaled for her to come in further. She shut the door with gentle motions and stepped closer to the desk.

"Sorry," she apologized again, "but I thought you might like to know what Naruto may be up to."

Kakashi's half-lidded eye opened a little wider.

"Go on."

"He just sent a clone, with this—," she held out a worn scrap of scroll, probably around a foot in length, stained and crinkled. Kakashi took it mutedly and spread it out before him. It was covered in seals, a short message on the top asking to interpret what could be interpreted, and more scribbles and seals of a different ink and handwriting overlapping everything originally written. This ink, no doubt, belonged to Moegi.

"I did the best I could," the girl admitted in contrite. "The clone who brought it told me the Kazekage was having his fuuinjutsu masters look over the same sequences as well. Wherever they are, they're going to mess with this."

Kakashi knew a thing or two about sealing—his sensei was a seals master, after all—and he knew what he was looking at was complicated stuff. Dangerously, complicated stuff.

"Oh, don't tell me this Moegi..." Kakashi moaned. "I already promised Sakura he wasn't getting up to trouble..."

"Well that was a stupid thing to promise," Moegi reproached, heedless to whom she was speaking to. "All he gets into is trouble."

"Probably jinxed it just by saying it, didn't I?" Kakashi asked ruefully.

"Definitely."

Kakashi bit his lip—unseen by his mask—and studied the mass of scribbles once more.

"You say he had the Kazekage with him?"

"Yep," Moegi nodded. "And Killer Bee...you know...that rapper?"

"Also the Hachibi Jinchuuriki," Kakashi corrected. He felt a little better knowing Naruto had two other prominent ninja with him. "Well, for all we know he could be doing us a huge favor. Did he tell you exactly what he was doing?"

"No," Moegi groused and shook a strand of hair from her face. "He was pretty tightlipped about it when I tried to pry. But I'm almost positive it has something to do with the bijuu."

She leaned over the front edge of the desk and pointed to a particular string of runes.

"You see these here? These are probably the most complex storage seals I've ever seen. I'm talking something massive...an extremely powerful energy...though they don't match up with _these_ ones...the ones for concealment...if they're in the same sequence as they appear now then they shouldn't even work properly...never figured that one out—either Naruto wrote it down wrong or I've completely misread them. And these ones over here actually reverse polarity of chakra. I can't imagine what all of these in combination would create...but it seems as though it attracts opposing forces and pressure them to endure each other in some container. What ever this is must be highly volatile. That's why I'm concerned."

"Oh Gods..." Kakashi suddenly gasped, falling back against his chair. He ran a hand over his face. "It's the Sealing Statue...they've found it...they..."

"The what?"

Kakashi slowly moved his eyes to her, as if just seeing her for the first time and steadied himself.

"Classified, I'm afraid," he clipped. "Akatsuki business."

Moegi frowned, but accepted it. Ultimately, she was still only a chuunin and as such wasn't privy to such information. Her only window into Akatsuki dealings was being Naruto's seal overseer.

"Well, anyway, I only wanted to inform you why I was up at this ungodly hour."

"Hmm? Oh, yes...yes...thank you Moegi," Kakashi muttered, distractedly. He was staring intently at the rousted message with his thumb plucking at the cloth on his chin in an absent habit.

Moegi moved to the door, falling back into a more subtle mood when she opened it only to meet a darkened hallway; a reminder of the village's nightly quiet.

"Moegi."

The young woman turned. Kakashi was looking at her with dogged study.

"Let's not say anything to Sakura...at least, not unless he doesn't return when he's supposed to."

Pressing her lips together, she smiled.

"Right."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"You ready to do this?"

"Yes."

"Uh huh."

"This is so stupid..."

"Hell yeah! I'm ready to rock out with my co—"

"We get it, sensei," Karui cut him off, irritably. She was standing among a stretch of waist-high grass at sixty-degree angles to where her sensei and Samui were stationed in the outcropping. She could barely make out Omoi, who was yards away at the forest's edge on _top_ of the ridge and flanked by Naruto and the Kazekage. Together, the six of them made a perfect hexagon.

"Remember, as soon as we trip this he'll know," Naruto continued. "We have to be fast. I'll cut through my seal first and then we move counterclockwise. That would mean you, lolli-junkie"

Omoi shot him a flat look.

"I know which way counterclockwise is. Give me some credit."

"This is a really, really stupid plan." Samui said for the umpteenth time.

"I know," Naruto acknowledged. Amazingly, after hearing the same objection from her over and over again, Naruto never grew annoyed. "But it's also kind of funny."

"Funny!" Karui shrieked, her voice echoing into the sightless cavity of night. "There is nothing funny, sane or logical about this!"

As if to make matters worse for the young woman, her own master snorted and commented: "How many times in your life will you have the opportunity to piss off the likes of Akatsuki while releasing demons into their natural habitat?"

"Exactly," Samui said irritably. The man was an awesome fighter, but she felt his sanity slipped when it came to associating with Uzumaki Naruto. "We are releasing _demons_. This will probably do more harm than good. I can't understand how you're not making this connection."

"Ya' see, I'm not so sure about that," Naruto opposed her argument. "The demons are only dangerous to humans when controlled _by_ humans. They're creatures of nature and energy and would much prefer not to be bothered by such things. On the other hand, if Akatsuki managed to capture all of them..."

"Yeah, yeah, we get it. Humans are all that is wrong with the world," Omoi interrupted sullenly. "Can we get on with this?"

"Hold on. It has to be at the right time. It will make it easier for us."

Karui looked relatively haggard with several stray hairs sticking out of her bandana. Her shoulders sagged as she asked, "There's a _time_ now?"

"It's a demon thing," Kirabi smirked, sharing a passing glance with Naruto.

Gaara studied the pair with a mild frown and not for the first time that evening wished that he still had a tie-in to such knowledge. He had his humanity stripped from him before birth, but he never fully incorporated a demonic nature into his being before he lost his bijuu. He probably couldn't even be considered a half-breed.

"Why can't we do this in the morning?" Omoi yawned. His stance was still strong, despite his drooping eyes.

"Because—in about five seconds, we'll have reached the Devil's Hour."

"The what?" Gaara perked up. It struck him as familiar, as if some innate part of his mind recognized the term even though this was the first time he'd heard it spoke aloud.

He never received an answer; Naruto had already blown through the first seal.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Well, well...this _is_ interesting..."

Uchiha Madara observed the three men before him. They were all he had left in his little masquerade, but now, as the final act was about to begin, the number of pawns he had at his hand were of little importance. He had been well aware of some plotting behind his back—of Pein's resentment, of Danzo's personal agenda—but it was only until now, now that they were cut down to almost nothing, that he managed to wrest out of the pair what intent they shared.

While Danzo and Pein made preparations for such an event, Madara had been focusing on having Sasuke and his valet capture the Hachibi Jinchuuriki; they needed the eight-tails before the Statue could take Naruto's essence. This meant that Naruto had been allowed to roam free in the meantime, gaining strength and further slimming their chances of ever capturing him.

But this suggestion...this method...was _perfect_.

Madara addressed Pein, "I find your plan with Danzo quite satisfactory...never would have thought of it myself, and that—excuse my immodesty—is saying something."

Danzo held one hand fast on the head of his cane and bore a tight smile that looked more like a grimace on his puckered face.

"I am almost positive it will work, Madara-sama. I've started my influence with delicacy and subtly few posses in these contemporary times, let alone are able to detect. Influencing those who are young and impressionable is my expertise, after all."

"Indeed," Madara spoke after a thoughtful pause. "No doubt the actions of our former associates aided you in such an endeavor."

"So can we move now?" Ren asked, feeling impatient. Without Sasuke to annoy and the material for his experiments dwindling, he had grown rather agitated. He shifted within his heavy coat. Despite the unnecessarily large amount of clothing he wore, he never felt hot. He never felt much of anything other than the thrill of discovery.

That was why he was so excited for this. If they could get Uzumaki Naruto in storage—a man whose own body absorbed a demon—the scientific possibilities would be endless.

Unfortunately, Madara shook his head in the negative.

"We've lost enough members, we need to plan this accordingly. Laying low as we have done has worked in our favor regarding this motion. The problem is getting Konoha to buy into it. It would help if the rest of the world was setting a trend. It would make things flow more naturally...garner a little less suspicion."

It was rare these days, but Pein found himself in agreement. As solid as their plan played out, it wouldn't do for Konoha to be weary right off the bat.

"Hn. Pity that the Statue is unusable without the complete spectrum of youki, otherwise we could—"

Pein froze in his speech, his eyes unrealistically wide, pupils constricting with a disbelief that soon morphed into fury.

He let out a strangled gasp, "How—no—it isn't possible—!"

"Something wrong?" Madara asked, but Pein had disappeared from sight as only a ninja could.

"What..." Danzo narrowed his one, exposed eye and focused it on the spot where Pein was standing only a second earlier. "What could that have been about?"

"I have a number of theories." Madara began softly. He brought a gloved hand up to the base of his mask and stroked the cold, smooth ceramic. Amusement began to well within him.

"And I think it's safe to go with the most ironic of them."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

A deafening and thunderous howl filled the dark void of night; the dissonant combination of tenors ringing as one accompanied a blistering heat so hot one could hardly stand to look at it for fear of drying out their own eyeballs.

The spectacle was so carrying, so disturbing that not even the most perceptive of ninja would have noticed six shadowed blurs barreling to the north, nor would they hear the outraged cry of one, very, frustrated man.

Omoi, Karui and Samui were shaken, that much was obvious. The three humans were breathing heavily and goggle-eyed. No amount of harsh ninja training could come close to preparing them for that. Killing intent from an enemy ninja was one thing, but what just happened was completely supernatural. The raw, inhuman power that exploded forth from the statue—even when they managed to put miles in-between through shunshin—had been like no other experience. Fear—_terror—_consumed their beings, seeping into their brains and twisting their nerves, poisoning their thoughts and driving an uncontrollable panic to rattle them. Pushing themselves to escape became an arduous task when they were fighting against numbing sensations that could have left them vulnerable and paralyzed. It wasn't until they were so far that they could see little more than a pillar of color did their minds manage to right themselves and they were finally able to understand what they had just done.

"Did you see all that power?" Omoi choked. He still held a hand over his eyes as he gazed into the newly black distance. Pein must have put a stop to it. "Imagine if we had been a second later in fleeing? The demons would have gobbled us or we would have been burned alive or we could have gone crazy and killed each other..."

"Ow...ow," Karui whimpered, clutching at around her elbow. A deep-seated pain burned at the underside of her forearm—memorably the closest part of her body to the explosion as she escaped with her arms flying behind her in their usual traveling fashion. This hurt differently from any other burn she received; this one was still festering like a brand was being pushed into her skin. She could feel it picking all the way down to her bone.

Samui noticed her discomfort immediately.

"Let me see that," the woman demanded, already reaching for the smarting appendage.

Both Karui and Omoi watched as Samui began running a light diagnostic over the injured area.

"You're lucky it's just your arm," Samui murmured as she began rummaging for bandages in her leg pouch. "It wasn't even direct—just exposure. It'll scar, maybe even pain you forever, but you'll be fine."

"Now we need to find out if it's worth it," Omoi commented. Naruto and Kirabi-sensei made it seem like it wouldn't have been a big deal if they let loose a couple demons...they never let on that the demons would be like...like _that..._

While peeved that she was the only one to receive injuries, Karui acknowledged that, considering the circumstances, things could have gone much worse.

"I'm still not comfortable with what we did," Samui said. "So many things could have gone wrong in breaking that Statue. It is even more likely that we've merely created a bigger mess. Damn it, why did I even listen to those idiots..."

Karui and Omoi shared a furtive look; Samui rarely voiced her regrets. In fact, she rarely made decisions to be regretted over.

Nevertheless, they took part in her attitude. All seemed to be well at the moment—they bought their sensei more time, they halted the Akatsuki in their endeavors—but such reassurance felt halfhearted. Despite their success, they were nervous.

Naruto and Kirabi were anything but.

"We are awesome," Naruto stated as nothing other than fact.

"We deserve a pat on the back," Kirabi commended both himself and the younger two men.

"We need to go out for drinks," added Naruto.

Kirabi sighed, "Too bad we have minors tagging along..."

Karui, still in pain, snapped, "Sensei! For the last time, _we're all adults_!"

"Gaara buys—" Naruto announced, ignoring both the irate woman and the glower the former psychopath sent him; "he's a kage."

It would only take a few drinks to convince the three humans to relax...and a few more to convince them not to tell anyone what they did.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Ren wrung his hands out of habit—not a nervous habit by any means—he just didn't enjoy having idle hands. He'd rather be taking things apart...putting them back together again...

As man of science, Ren was rarely caught off guard. The one exception to this was Madara-sama, whose attitude, Ren found, had always been alarming. The man was simply impossible to read. Even without the mask he would have been. Too unpredictable; too worldly.

"Ironic? What's happened?" Ren asked after hearing the cryptic reasoning.

Madara cocked his head to the side.

"I believe those that have survived thus far in our quest are actively fighting back. Cute." At Ren's blank stare Madara continued. "They've discovered the Statue. They've managed to crack the barrier and release...oh...two or three demons. Pein has managed to stop the rest from escaping...though he is quite angry and rightfully so."

Ren wanted to ask how Madara knew this, but he knew he wouldn't get an answer either way.

"Clever," Danzo conceded, irked on principle by that Kyuubi-boy but admittedly impressed. "He's bought himself more time, which he'll probably use to gain back control of his Sage abilities...It could take months...years...to find those demons again.

"And that is where our young friend is mistaken," Madara spoke softly, turning, in his hand, the gaudy communication ring. "For I have no intention of holding back our plans of capturing him. He has just paved the way to his own downfall."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Oh noes! What will happen next?

And now it's time for a time-skip! Do the time-skip dance! Not a very big one, but necessary.

Naruto's sanity is a bit concerning here, I understand. It's like how you have certain friends where you can't help but act juvenile around. Like when my dad hangs out with his old college buddies once in a blue moon, and suddenly they think they're twenty again.

My time away is near the end...even though my efforts have hardly put a dent in my updates :)

Thank you all for being patient and supportive nonetheless! I love hearing feedback and this story almost always benefit from suggestions and opinions.

**Next chap**: time skip! We'll see how the world copes with new demons on the loose.


	27. The Movement

**Chapter 27**

Shizune stood tall at her solid height of one hundred sixty-eight centimeters; her feet angled at the heels and her hands clasped in front of her abdomen. She was the perfect picture of professionalism, a model ninja to any Hokage.

"So," a grayed man peered over the report Shizune handed in, "Kirigakure has given in as well?"

"That's right," answered Shizune. "Which makes Suna, Iwa and now Kiri part of the trend."

Again, Kakashi lowered his eyes to the detailed scroll that confirmed his latest headache.

Biting her lip, Shizune ventured, "Do...do you think it would be wise for us to...?"

"No," Kakashi said at once. He set the scroll down before him and neatly folded his hands on the desk. "It still seems like a waste of money to me."

The woman appeared rankled at his response.

"Konoha's finances are fine—and they've offered less than most temples are demanding from their governments. With all due respect, Hokage-sama, I feel that it wouldn't hurt us to at least use precautionary measures."

"And _I_ don't think they're necessary," Kakashi stated. "We have Naruto, and that's the best protection any village could hope for. Especially now that he's using senjutsu again."

It was what Iwa, Suna and Kiri all had in common with each other: they no longer had a Jinchuuriki. And the world was experiencing a time when such an asset proved most advantageous.

"Naruto's away often," Shizune pointed out.

"I honestly don't think Konoha's in danger of being attacked by a rogue demon," Kakashi drawled.

It was not hard for the general populace to notice when there were two demons on the loose.

The first clue that something was amiss came in the form of global reports regarding the initial release—the explosion of power that could be seen and heard for miles in every direction. The Countries of River, Wind and Fire were closest to the location and were quick to send word out of the disturbance. Investigations went underway but no trace of what caused it could be found other than a thick, nearly unbearable chakra residue that, to this day, still lingered along the western shores of the Wangan no Ti.

No solid proof could be scraped up that Akatsuki lay behind the incident and, with no motive available, it was unclear if the explosion was demon-related or not. The only people who knew the truth behind the recently freed demons were those present and their respective Kage. Those who contributed to cracking the seals of the Akatsuki's barrier—namely, Moegi and Suna's interpreters—had their own suspicions on the ordeal but knew better than to say anything when the panic broke out.

Speculations were confirmed only weeks later with documentable sightings; first it was the Gobi, spotted by the ANBU of Takigakure. Next it was the Sanbi—its disturbance of the Heisui tides revealing its existence to the fishermen of Nagi Island.

At first, much of the public descended into a state of anxiety as fear took hold of the masses. With the Akatsuki and its intentions exposed among the greater nations, many were under the impression that their next stage of operations had begun.

The world on a whole was ready to admit that the power of a demon with a human mind was the best fortification against demons.

Specific petitions for aid were directed at both Naruto and Kirabi. Kirabi's music tours were put on hold as his Raikage ordered his return to fulfill the pleas. Naruto also was in demand, so to speak, and began to handle missions with far more rigidity as the numbers piled high. Any sighting or suspicion of a demon had requests being flown in to either nation for intervention.

But it never amounted into anything. No black cloaks with red clouds were ever seen, nor any aggression from the demons.

After months of nothing happening, the predicted initiative to recapture the demons swept the world. Searches for the beasts went underway by all who had the manpower to do so; both the desire for and the knowledge of Jinchuuriki were higher than ever.

Naruto and Kirabi were both being used, covertly, to put these to an end as well, but this time by their own nations. Kirabi outright killed any squadrons who openly hunted a bijuu while Naruto usually aimed to scare them off with freak accidents and theatrics before resorting to killing. Both were expected to make every incident appear as if the bijuu had bested their would-be captors and not by the hands of allied nations.

This system became the norm for several months, Naruto and Kirabi undermining other villages' ventures and fruitless attempts at gathering Intel from the oddly quiet Akatsuki.

Then, just a few weeks ago, the incidents started happening. A village in Bird Country was left smoldering in ruins, no survivors; nothing left but ashes, unsightly remains, and the unmistakable residue of a bijuu.

The demons, once so elusive to human endeavors, began attacking settlements and the mass hysteria was revived. Once again, Kakashi found himself bombarded with village leaders' pleas for Naruto's protection. Any wind or word of demonic activity in the area had communities within a five hundred mile radius of such activity getting worked up.

Naruto, who became far more agreeable with missions now that his life had stabilized, had to put his foot down when he began spending more time away on missions than at home with his kid. No doubt Hitomi had voiced her complaint as well.

So Kakashi had to turn down some of the less serious calls. Kirabi too was noted to be picky. Owing to the fact that the pair submitted a sizable income boost to their respective villages due to their high enough demand, they were often allowed to pick and choose.

The sudden demonic activity roused much suspicion—enough for many to draw the conclusion that the Akatsuki were finally mobilizing after a long, unsettling respite. The suspicion only rose when it was noted that only smaller, non-shinobi villages—ones that clearly had no defense—were being wiped out. Be it a warning gesture or simply small stepping-stones to a greater means, the reason was still unknown. Aside from that, no other pattern could be discerned, making every next attack nearly unpredictable.

Naruto had expressed his theory many times to various villages that the demons were being provoked by something, much as the Kyuubi had been when it attacked twenty-five years before. He was positive that either Madara or someone with a similar power was behind such incidents, as the demons carried no motive to attack insignificant villages so obviously positioned out of their preferred habitats.

But the Kage didn't want to hear it; it didn't matter to them _why_ the demons attacked, what mattered was that they _were_ attacking. And anything that put their villages in danger was a hazard.

So precautions were taken. One by one, villages—entire countries—began enlisting in the aid of their respective temples. The priests' ability to perform religious rites and ward off demons was advertised and daimyo and Kage alike were desperate enough to give it a go. It was a movement that swept the world far too quickly.

Kakashi had tried to look the other way in terms of asking for support from the Fire Temple; while precautionary, he found their insistence at enforcing Konoha's barriers almost _too_ insistent. But he couldn't deny that Naruto and Kirabi were being stretched too thin, and the rising panic with the aggressions of the demons had the Fire Lord on his back about following the trend the other villages had set. It was a movement he feared he could not evade for much longer.

"The Raikage thinks it's a great idea," Shizune continued her argument. And this, more than anything, caught Kakashi's attention.

Due to Naruto and Kirabi's friendship, the once tentative alliance between Cloud and Leaf had bolstered to a similar level as their accord shared with Suna—another strong tie that could be accredited to Naruto. The Raikage held a grudging respect for Naruto, though he still took every opportunity to let it be known how annoying he found the man. Most likely for the dressing down he received from Naruto regarding Hyuuga Hanabi's capture years ago. He also claimed Naruto was a bad influence on his brother.

Personal feelings aside, no one could deny the two nations were closer than ever and, harboring the last two Jinchuuriki, often consulted one another regarding actions taken against Akatsuki.

"Does he now?"

Kakashi's interest mingled with scrutiny and Shizune faltered.

"W-well...it's been rumored that he's been having talks with the Lightning Daimyo and the Lightning temple guardians...soon we'll be the only village without that protection. That could make us one of the first large-scale targets."

Kakashi rolled his knuckle against his temple—a habit he found himself picking up as the stress of his position bore down on him over the years.

He opened his mouth to give his answer.

"Kakashi-sama!" The door was pushed upon forcefully and a grown Konohamaru strode in with lengthy steps. He looked more and more like his uncle and grandfather at his twenty-one years, especially now that he'd grown in the classic Sarutobi conical beard.

"What is it?" Kakashi prompted, hiding his relief from having to answer. He still needed to speak with his council further on the matter; if Kumo actually planned on enlisting in spiritual powers for protection, then Shizune brought up a viable point.

"It's confirmed—the Sanbi's been spotted along the eastern shores of Nami no Kuni and Kirigakure is definitely trying to capture it."

Shizune smiled tightly, "Look's like _he'll_ be gone again."

Kakashi ignored her complacency and turned a serious look onto the young Sarutobi.

"Alright, alert Naruto."

Nothing more needed to be said.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Sensei! Watch! Watch! I think I got it this—ah—no...dammit..."

Naruto watched anyway, even as the bubble of water Toshi tried to summon from the river melted back into the current.

"Impressive," Naruto laughed.

"Gah! That wasn't supposed to happen!" Toshi hollered over the roar of the waterfall.

"Try stepping away from the waterfall," Naruto suggested. "It helps if you start out on calmer water."

Unlike Toshi, Naruto didn't have to raise his voice; he allowed the wind to make up for the distance. After a moment's pause he saw Toshi turn around and gauge his proximity to said landmark. The young man seemed to register that he stood too close to it, as his clothes had steadily dampened from the concentrated mist without his realizing.

It was a sunny afternoon, and Team Five of two years spent the day training in their usual spot near Naruto's house in Bassai. They often switched between their current location and Konoha's training grounds seventeen, but even the newly instated chuunin found Naruto's personal spot preferable with its varied terrain and privacy.

A rhythmic yet distant rustling alerted Naruto to someone's approach. He closed his eyes, dipping into Earth's vast life form for the briefest of seconds to determine who it was before pulling out quickly. He had not yet regained the old comfort of spending long moments in meditation and still could not bring himself to do little more than periodically check the status of his surroundings. While the self-imparted restrictions left him more "blind" than the surveillance he had a couple years ago, he prided himself in being in complete control of his mental and emotional state of being.

"Naruto-san!" called a young voice only seconds later.

"Hey Keiji," said Naruto without turning around. He was occupied with re-carving some of Stick's faded seals with a kunai formally owned by Oki...before a sloppy throw lost her its possession. "How did you get here?"

Keiji stopped just feet in front of the man, stumbling to a halt and bending over to catch his breath.

"I," he gasped, "I just...I know where Tomi lives...and then...then I followed your chakra signals into the...forest..."

"Really?" Naruto was impressed. Sensing chakra signals from over a mile away wasn't a skill common in children. Then again, Keiji was considered a genius for a reason.

Breath caught, Keiji straightened and looked into Naruto's face with an earnest excitement.

"Guess what!"

"What?"

"I just graduated!" He puffed his chest proudly and stuck a thumb toward the new addition on his forehead; a shiny, unmarred hitai-ite. "The Hokage himself tested me!"

A slow smile spread across Naruto's face, "Is that so? That's a pretty big deal. I bet your mom and Shikamaru are happy."

"Yeah, they were," said Keiji dismissively. "But now you can really train me! I mean, you said after I graduate you would—"

"Might," Naruto interjected.

"—Teach me how to control wind like you can!" he finished as though Naruto never said anything.

Naruto spoke to the overeager child with patience only a father could harbor, "Keiji, I know you just graduated, but you need to work on a team first before you jump straight into an apprenticeship."

The boy released an exaggerated sigh.

"There have been other ninja who never started out on a team and they went far," he argued. Naruto did not doubt this, even if he never knew any personally. Naruto's smile never left his face.

"Yes, but the even _better_ ninjas started out on teams. It'll be good for you, trust me. Learning how to work with other people is best picked up while you're young."

Keiji groaned and flopped down on the ground. Genius that he was, a fresh-out-of-the-academy genin needed to train his body before traveling twenty miles at top speed without suffering physically.

"I still can't figure out why you're so desperate for me to teach you. Shikamaru would love to take you on as an apprentice."

"Because...I _am_ wind-natured," the boy puffed. Then, after a thoughtful moment, added, "Besides, I'd just play strategy games with him all the time."

Naruto twisted the kunai in hand against Stick's rind, shaving off the final touches of a bouka seal and giving it a sharp blow to be rid of the woody dross; "Strategy wins battles, more often than not."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..."

Keiji had grown more extroverted during his time in the academy, developing a backboned independence when it came to his goals in life. It could have been the influence from his friends, or even just the influence of hanging out with Hitomi. Perhaps it was his way of acting out against his mother and mentor, both of whom were a bit of sticklers for rules—though in Shikamaru's case it was simply too troublesome to go against the grain.

"Sensei, Sensei! I got it this time! Look! _Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!"_

Naruto paused to watch the water dragon—a fully corporeal dragon whose body, curved in an 'S' shape, reached the height of the waterfall—rise and twist within the air. It only held for several seconds, but the feat itself was rather accomplished. Not many fourteen-year-olds could execute an element-based B-rank jutsu after only studying it for less than a week.

"Wow," Naruto uttered, doing nothing to hide his admiration. "Where did you learn that?

"A ninja never reveals his secrets!" Toshi stated impressively.

"He traded Yuu's father for it with Ringo's scroll on chakra absorption," Oki said without looking up from her book on kinjutsu—a book Naruto highly doubted she obtained through upfront means considering the forbidden content. Alas, such was the ninja way.

"What!" Ringo yelped from the other side of the river. Chakra absorption was his latest failure at finding his niche in the ninja world...but that didn't mean he wasn't done studying it. "Is that where it went?!"

Toshi looked panicked for a moment before throwing a glare at his female companion. "Oki...!"

"Well watch this!"

Several kunai whizzed through the air, the connected lines of chakra-controlled wire all but invisible aside from the occasional glint of a captured sunbeam. The weapons struck at Toshi from several angles, advancing enough for only the tip of each blade to nick his skin before yanking back and approaching at another angle. The quick strikes and even quicker retreats, coupled with the multi-dimensionality of the attack, made it difficult for Toshi to defend himself.

Difficulty didn't stop the tall boy from trying. With a kunai of his own in each hand, he fruitlessly attempted to shield himself by parrying as many strikes as he could. His hurried movements made it look as though he were performing a wild dance.

"C-come on! Ow! Ringo—shit—I'm—_ouch, damn it_—I'm _sorry_!"

Eventually the blades retracted, flying back and landing in a heap of metal and wire at Ringo's feet. Whether he felt his punishment was justified or he couldn't control the kunai much longer was indiscernible.

"I call that one _Kabashira_!" declared Ringo, quite satisfied with the results. He had been working with chakra wires for the last few months and was nearly positive he found what he would be building upon. Chakra control wasn't his best quality, but he felt if he focused on mastering it he would smooth out his kinks as a ninja. Just as his sensei had done.

"Bitchin'," Naruto laughed, despite the fact that one of his genin now bled from several shallow wounds.

"Argh! Ringo! What the hell!" Toshi cried, pulling off his now ruined shirt with much more force than his fresh lacerations cared for. Both Ringo and Oki broke down in cackles. "Ah...you guys are jerks..."

"That water dragon was unusually good for a beginner," Naruto commented between chuckles. "Toshi, you may have a water affinity—I'll see if I can get some chakra paper to test you on."

Keiji's head whipped around so fast Naruto feared he would paralyze himself.

"Chakra paper?" He echoed. "Can you get me some? Then I can prove to you that I have a wind affinity!"

Naruto only shook his head amusedly.

"You need to relax, kid."

He briefly turned his attention back on Toshi to watch the boy practice making another water dragon—this time going for size rather than detail as the neck and body were thicker, but less sleek. Water dripped straight off the concrete features in thick globules rather than sliding down them like last time; it had a softer consistency. Still, it was impressive for a fourteen year old to hold such a command over an element. Enough so to make a tangible—

Naruto paused in his thoughts, narrowing his eyes at the dragon that teetered about in the wind, not quite obeying Toshi's intention of hitting Ringo.

A white-tailed eagle descended from the sky and landed on the end of Stick with a graceful swoop. It snapped its hooked beak several times for attention when Naruto first didn't pay it any mind and held out its leg, where a note was attached.

"Hello bird," Naruto greeted cordially. Keiji cast him a weird look amidst his scowl, no doubt irked that his request was being ignored...again.

Unmindful to the boy next to him, Naruto pulled the cord securing the scroll to the scaly appendage, allowing the letter to fall into his lap. He recognized the bird from Konoha's own avian post and had a good idea as to what the letter contained. He'd received several similar alerts over the course of the last month.

"What is it sensei?" Oki called, rolling off her belly and moving into a cross-legged sit. "Another bijuu thing?"

"Yeah," answered Naruto in a distracted voice. He scrolled over the brief message a couple times before crumpling it within his hand. His fist quickly clenched around the paper with a sharp jerk and when he opened his palm to the world all that was left of the note was a myriad of paper shreds, subsequently scattering into the wind once exposed.

"Kirigakure again," he clarified and stood. The movement jolted the bird off of its temporary perch and it squawked loudly in umbrage before taking off.

"Aw man," Toshi grumbled. "Guess we should head home then, huh?"

He had given up trying to get the water dragon to attack Ringo and the exhaustion of repeatedly using a B-rank ninjutsu was starting to catch up with him.

"How long will you be gone this time?" Ringo asked. He sounded, for some reason or another, disheartened. "A week?"

Naruto stretched and glanced around their makeshift training grounds. Toshi was trudging back to the shore, dragging his feet across the rippled water; Oki remained on the ground, staring off into space. Ringo was concentrating on winding his chakra wires back into a spool in a most mechanical manner.

He gave his students a lopsided smile.

"What's with the faces? You're coming with me."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Lee-lee, try this one on!"

The spindly girl stared at the thin strip of fabric her best friend held out on display. It looked like an oversized sweatband.

"Where...do I put that?"

Hitomi noisily blew a thick lock of errant bangs from her face.

"Well on your body, where else? Now take your shirt off—!" Hitomi already began to lift the hem of Leela's undershirt.

"T-Tomi!" Leela squeaked, practically helpless as the stronger preteen stripped and redressed her. It took the blonde only six seconds to squeeze the unsightly article onto the other girl.

"There! You look hot!"

"Where did you get this?!" Leela hissed. Her mother would never let her walk out of the house wearing something so revealing. Hell, she would never allow _herself_ to walk out of the house like this!

Hitomi shrugged in a most apathetic manner.

"Moegi-neechan gave it to me. She gives me all her cool clothes."

"Does your dad let you wear this?!"

Leela picked at the skintight, purple fabric with great distaste; she couldn't pull more than a centimeter away from her skin.

"'Course not;" Hitomi griped. "He's mental about this stuff."

The last time she tried to go to the academy wearing one of Moegi-neechan's hand-me-downs he nearly had a conniption. Who cared if her entire back was showing? Stupid Nara Tonakai was allowed to wear stuff like that...

"I bet Sakura-san would let you," Leela continued, trying to peel the "shirt" off, only to have Hitomi smack her hands away. The younger girl began to fish around for some clip-on earrings to match the outfit. Moegi-neechan always matched _her_ outfits with accessories.

"Not if my dad says 'no' first. She hardly ever disagrees with him when it comes to me. Now hold still..."

Leela complied and allowed Hitomi to approach her with more adornments.

"Do you think your dad's going to marry her? Ow—!"

Hitomi tugged a bit too hard on an earlobe that she was trying to attach a jade earring to.

"Sorry," she mumbled, sounding sincerely apologetic. "I know she wants dad to ask her..."

There were very few things that Uzumaki Hitomi would be uncomfortable talking about, and as her best friend Leela could tell the topic of gaining a potential stepmother was one of them.

"Would you mind?" Leela gently prodded.

Hitomi was silent for a moment before settling on a shrug.

"Dad likes her...," she offered in a noncommittal grunt.

"But you like her too, don't you? I mean...there's no reason not to. _I_ like her. She's pretty and smart and makes the best peppermint tea!"

The whiskered girl playfully yanked a lock of brown hair and stuck out her tongue.

"Yeah, yeah, we all know how much _you_ like her."

Leela had taken a bit of a shining to Sakura ever since the woman healed a broken ankle and spent the better part of an evening getting the young child to open up over some tea and cookies. If one wanted to get the normally reserved girl chattering, it only took bringing up the medic ninja.

"Yo! Tomi?!" a deeper, male voice sounded from downstairs. It echoed within the stairwell and was muffled by the door, but Hitomi could recognize who it was.

"Eek!" Leela squeaked, having just struggled out of the revealing shirt.

"It's just Ringo. Will you calm down?" Hitomi scolded her jittery friend before yelling, "We're up here!"

"No—Tomes! I'm not dressed!" hissed the brunette.

"You're ten years old, there's nothing for him to gawk at." Hitomi liked using new words she learned from the book Kakashi-jii-chan gave her. Though she couldn't understand why he told her not to let her father know she had it. There was nothing _too_ bad in it. Yet.

Leela grabbed her oversized sweatshirt from the bed and threw it on just as the fourteen-year-old boy opened the bedroom door.

"Hey Ringo!" Hitomi chirped cheerily. She gave Leela a not-so-gentle nudge.

"H-hey Ringo," the quieter girl echoed. She hid the lower half of her face in the overlong sleeves.

Ringo granted her a short nod before turning to Hitomi, "We're going on a mission, your dad wanted me to let you know that Juhi will be taking care of you this weekend."

"Cool, what kind of mission?" Hitomi asked, hopping onto her bed and bouncing a bit on her knees as though to test the springs. She'd already had her mattress replaced twice before due to roughhousing.

"The kind I can't talk about," Ringo teased and pulled down his lower eyelid with his forefinger while sticking out his tongue. "Nyah!"

Hitomi looked unimpressed as Leela muffled a soft giggle into the collar of her shirt.

"Oh please," the nine-year old scoffed. "You barely passed the chuunin exams. It can't be _that_ great."

"Humph, cocky brat," Ringo harrumphed, but there was no malice in the words. "I'm just relaying the message. Juhi's on her way over right now, so behave yourself in the time being."

Hitomi launched a pillow at the bald teen. He easily dodged with a loud laugh.

"See ya' around squirt!" He called as he shot off down the hall.

Hitomi flopped onto her back, "Jerkface..."

Leela picked up the weaponized pillow from the ground and brushed it off, before bringing it back to the bed.

"Think they'll actually be back within a weekend?" Hitomi asked, staring blankly up at the ceiling. It'd happened before; her dad would go out on a mission that would suddenly lengthen due to external complications. She knew about him being a Jinchuuriki, and she knew that Killer-Bee-oji-chan was one as well. Her father informed her of his need to keep the cycle of creating Jinchuuriki from continuing. She knew what he was doing was good...but sometimes it made her so angry. Why couldn't other people take care of their problems instead of relying on her dad to do it for them? It wasn't fair that other kids got to have their daddies all for themselves, but everyone seemed to want to share hers.

Sometimes she wished he were just another ordinary man.

Leela climbed atop the bed and curled up next to Hitomi.

"I don't know."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Sensei, can I just be the first to say how cool it is that you're letting us come with you on this."

Naruto gave Oki as roguish grin in return for her unnecessary blarney.

"I'm not just letting you come along. I expect you to be active participants in preventing this demon from being captured, by any means necessary."

The team of four travelled at a leisurely pace for tree-hopping, covering no more than thirty kilometers an hour while planning on making it to wave in two days at the latest. Before the mist-nin had a chance to seal the Sanbi at any rate.

"Does the Hokage know that we're coming?" Toshi asked. Going to confront a demon, or even jounin intent on capturing one, was not a mission the average chuunin would be allowed to accompany, especially ones who passed the exam a mere two months ago.

The man shrugged and bore a rueful smile.

"I'm sure he'll figure it out when your parents come asking where you've disappeared to."

His genin rolled their eyes with almost synchronized timing. There was a time when they would have actually believed that to be their sensei's plan. After having two years to work out his character quirks, the trio now knew any ridiculous nonsense that exited his mouth most likely translated into clone business.

Naruto did, in fact, have a clone escorting Keiji back to Konoha at that very moment; not only to ensure the boy returned safely, but also to inform Kakashi of his companions as well as procuring the chakra paper needed to test Toshi.

Naruto was weary about accepting Keiji's plea to be trained. For one thing, he knew Shikamaru would be upset about it. For another he was completely thrown off guard by the integrity the boy held. It was cute at first, Keiji being so sure that he was wind-natured. But two years into the academy and he still was on about it. Either he really knew what he was talking about—not likely—or he was delusional.

No one would believe that a child raised by Yuuhi Kurenai and Nara Shikamaru could turn out delusional.

"Are we going to have to kill this time?" Ringo asked. His voice was steady, but anyone who knew him knew he would have difficulty taking a life.

"Probably," answered Naruto with honesty. Out of his three students, only Toshi had ever killed. And that had more to do with his impulsive actions rather than a planned target.

"We can do it," Oki affirmed, trying to breathe some confidence into her two other teammates.

"Yeah," muttered Toshi. The man he killed in the Suna chuunin exams had tried to get a cheap shot off at Oki while she battled out some fellow genin; it was a reaction he couldn't stop. No one thought any less of him, especially not his teammates; his sensei had them trained to only throw with lethal intent.

"Is it true you know the Mizukage?" Oki suddenly asked with an open, burning curiosity. It could have been a tactic to change the subject, but Naruto knew this was a girl who was all about connections. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, wondering where she heard such a thing to begin with.

"We've met," he put forth. "Met" was an understatement. Much like he had to do with the Raikage concerning the Hyuuga business, Naruto personally saw the young kage the first time she sent jounin after a bijuu. He thought he made his point clear that he would not tolerate the creation of any more Jinchuuriki, but the woman was under the impression that she needed to prove to the world that she was just as powerful and worthy of being a kage as any other. He understood her desire to push her village out of the "bloody mist" era, but her idea of reaching modernity through Jinchuuriki left much to be desired.

"I heard she's a real fox," Ringo couched, sharing a grin with Toshi through a flurry of greens. "And has a pair of knockers bigger than the Godaime—"

"You're a pig!" Oki snapped. She threw a threatening glare at Toshi as well, who had the gall to laugh.

"Yes, she's very good looking," admitted Naruto. "But a bit too concerned with rectifying her village's image than paying any mind to morals. Considering the image she's going for, it's rather hypocritical."

The three chuunin didn't need to waste any time trying to interpret their sensei's feelings on the matter.

"Don't worry, sensei. We'll make sure there are no more Jinchuuriki," Ringo sympathized.

"Yeah," Oki piped up. "Even when you're an old man and can't scare people into doing things, we'll take over and make sure the world gets the message."

Naruto gave the girl a humorless look.

"You do realize that, as a Jinchuuriki, I won't age very fast, and there's a good chance you'll be an old woman first."

The boys laughed as Oki narrowly avoided jumping headfirst into a low-hanging branch.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"You took them with you? Seriously, Naruto?"

Somehow, despite the indignation Kakashi mindfully incorporated into his voice, he felt little surprise. He expected Naruto to pull something like this much earlier.

The clone before him appeared completely unapologetic as he hung his arms in his pockets.

"This'll be good for them," Naruto supplied. "Great for cha—"

"If you say 'character building' I will put you on probation," Kakashi cut off before he had to hear the usual validation. The clone before him snapped his mouth shut, spending a moment to look bemused.

"I wasn't going to," he tried to assure the Hokage.

"Yes you were."

They stared at each other a moment longer. The clone sighed.

"Okay, yes, yes I was. But the fact remains that they'll need to learn to take on hordes of skilled jounin one day and I would feel better if I was around to supervise their first time."

Kakashi frowned. Naruto couldn't see his lips, of course, but he knew the man well enough to read invisible facial expressions.

"You're not going to leave it all up to them while you "watch", are you?"

"Don't be ridiculous. I'll deal with the squad leader."

"Naruto..."

"I'll bring them back alive and happy, is that what you want to hear? Come on, you and I both know they'll be back safe in a few days."

Kakashi slid a pen into his hand and began to draw up papers for an A-ranked mission.

"I feel I need to put some effort into keeping you in line."

"I'm not a linear kind of guy."

"Well aware."

Naruto waited patiently as Kakashi scribbled the contents of the mission.

"Remember," Kakashi advised, "don't be seen, don't—"

"—Leave any evidence pointing to Konoha...yeah, I've been doing this long enough to know the drill," Naruto cut in, audacious.

Unaffected, Kakashi gave him a pointed look, "But your students don't."

"All the better we do this now. I won't be around forever to keep holding this back."

Kakashi didn't need any clarification on what 'this' meant. He also didn't want to entertain the idea of how their village would get along without Naruto. It was dangerous to rely so much on one ninja, but when you had the right one around in such desperate times it was hard not to.

Signing his approval on the incomplete mission, as though he had planned it from the beginning, Kakashi placed the document in his to-be-completed pile that was stacked neatly on the left edge of his desk. All three of Naruto's chuunin were now marked down for a similar payroll as Naruto.

"Anything else?" Kakashi asked wearily.

"Yeah," said Naruto. "Where would I find some chakra paper?"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Naruto had sprawled himself across a park bench, steadily unwinding as he ran a fingernail along the grain of the headrest. After leaving the Hokage's office with some chakra paper in hand, he planned on dropping it off at his apartment and dispelling like his creator intended. But Sakura's shift ended in twenty minutes and the hospital was within sight of the park. A clone he may be, but Naruto still had sensory perception and the warmth of the sun, coupled by the fresh, gratifying breeze beckoned him to spend a bit more time in Konoha.

He occasionally dipped into meditation to sense the outlay of the village and see if he could monitor his daughter, even though she lodged with Juhi at that moment. Before leaving, the original made sure nothing remotely threatening existed within a fifty mile radius of Konoha—and that included Bassai—but that still didn't stop him from worrying. He had years of being a father under his belt and he never quite got rid of that paranoia that something could hurt his daughter, something simple that he would overlook.

"Why are you still here?"

Naruto languidly rolled his head to meet the red-ringed eyes of Keiji. The child had been tailing him ever since the words "chakra paper" left his mouth.

Despite knowing the answer, Naruto couldn't help but ask, "Why are _you_ still here?"

Keiji looked annoyed.

"I know you're a clone," he stated firmly. "Shouldn't you save up your energy if you're going to be fighting?"

"I want to see Sakura first," said Naruto with a shrug and he went back to looking towards the hospital. It just occurred to him to ask Sakura to keep an eye on both Juhi and Hitomi. These trying times demanded extra insurance.

Much to Naruto's hilarity, Keiji moved down the bench to unceremoniously push Naruto's legs off from their resting place before taking up the spot himself. And to think there was a time when this kid used to fear him.

"Can Sakura-san tell if you're real or not?" Keiji asked, with a thoughtful expression. Naruto thought it a rather diplomatic approach to asking for a piece of chakra paper.

Humoring the boy, Naruto answered, "She shouldn't be able to...but sometimes I think she can."

"Sakura-san's real smart like that," Keiji commented. His eyes darted a couple times to Naruto's vest pocket.

Naruto suppressed a smile.

"I think it's just a sixth sense girlfriends have."

"Yeah…"

"Keiji?"

"Hm…?" the brunet looked up, seemingly distracted.

"Would you like to try channeling some chakra into this chakra paper?" Naruto asked, taking out and holding between two fingers a thin, blank square.

Keiji's face lit up.

"Yeah!"

The nine-year-old bounced from his seat and reached out to grab the paper, only to have Naruto pull back at the last second.

"Do you know how to channel chakra into an object?"

"I _am_ a genin," Keiji sounded thoroughly exasperated. Naruto chuckled and relinquished the special sheet to the ardent child.

"Now don't feel too bad if nothing happens," Naruto started calmly. "You're very young and most chakra networks don't begin to show their alignment until they've been exercised for several years."

Keiji didn't seem to be listening. He was squinting at the chakra paper gripped between his thumb and index knuckle. His nose scrunched between his eyes and the tip of his tongue poked out at the corner of his mouth.

"Com'on...com'on..." Keiji mumbled under his breath as the seconds ticked by. Naruto could feel the chakra generating from the boy, swirling around the hand at focus; he certainly was determined.

Eventually, Naruto had to put a hand on Keiji's shoulder when the child started turning red in the face from so much strain.

Nothing happened to the paper.

Naruto tried not to laugh. It was sad, but the poor kid really built himself up for disappointment.

"_I will not say 'I told you so', I will not say 'I told you so'..."_ Naruto chanted over and over again in his mind. He was not a cruel person; he just liked being right about things.

Keiji stared at the paper as if it betrayed him, clearly upset. A small gust of wind took it from his loose fingers and the paper skidded along the twittering grass.

"It's alright," Naruto conciliated gently. "I told you—," he caught himself, "...earlier...that nothing might happen. This doesn't mean you're _not_ wind natured...it just means that it's too soon to tell."

"But I am!" Keiji shouted, angrily, shaking the hand off his shoulder. "I'm just like you! I can prove it!"

Naruto wasn't listening.

"What are you talking about? You just _dis_proved it," Naruto said absently. He had just noticed something smoking on the ground a few feet from where Keiji was standing.

He moved closer to get a better look. It was a small, round and grey lump, outwardly singed and releasing an odorous smoke. It sat there like a soggy clump of ash, looking so out of place amongst the attractive, vibrant grass.

He carefully reached down and poked it.

It was wet and squishy.

He tried to pick it up with his thumb and forefinger only to have it fall apart between the pads.

"What the—?"

It couldn't have been...certainly, it wasn't the chakra paper he gave to Keiji that the boy dropped? Nothing had happened; he saw it himself...as pristine and whole as it started...

"Will you LOOK?!"

Startled by the shout, Naruto turned and abided. Keiji had slammed his kunai into the tree where it splintered into the bark all the way past the hilt until the very tip of the end ring was visible. Keiji's knuckles were scrapped from being banged into the tree during his strike; his back heaved in the effort and passion it took to do so.

Naruto could only stare numbly at the sliver of metal left visible as the unmistakable glow indicating wind-enhancement settled back into the atmosphere. Sluggishly, his eyes trailed to the wielder of the kunai: a nine-year-old, fresh out of the academy genin.

"I told you," the young boy—a boy _far_ too young for such a feat—breathed in giddiness. "I'm wind-natured."

And then he fainted.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

A single, crimson eye surveyed the swarming town of Otafuku Gai over the distance of several acres worth of treetops. So many humans, so many lives. Such a waste.

Alas, Madara always prided himself as one who could look at the big picture. The end would justify the means—despicable they may be.

"Would you say it's time?"

He looked down to a shorter, wider, more aged body than his own appearance.

"Yes," the gritty voice of Danzo conceded. "It's time."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Hot diggity dog! I'm back in schoolio now, so I'm back on a schedule. Which means more regular updates! Hurrah! In case people didn't catch the gazillion hints I left regarding a timeskip, this is two years after the demons were released; Hitomi is nine, and Leela, who is a year older, is ten. Plans are moving slowly and I want to focus on major turning points, like what we've reached now. This was only a filler chap of sort

Keiji may have scared some of you with that sort-of confusing last scene...rest assured he is not going to be super-powered, or even a huge focus in this fic. But he will play a larger role in Naruto's life.

Ringo's attack, Kabashira, means mosquito swarm for those who wonder. There are also a few other words I made up, mostly regarding towns and/or oceans...things that don't have a name on the Naruto world map and are just not important. So don't waste your time trying to memorize them.

I'm not the brightest, nor do I have much time to spare, so MegaB was kind enough to give me a spot on his forums! Since I am completely incapable of setting up one myself. So if you have a slew of questions regarding the fic you can always ask me there. And if you don't know who MegaB is, he's the dude who wrote Konoha: Naruto's Playground. One of the most badass fics floating around here so if you haven't read it, do it. Right meow. And he gets a secret thanks for secretly editing this thing.

Next chap: The infallible will fall


	28. Into Effect

**Chapter 28**

"It's just chakra exhaustion? You're sure?" Naruto asked for the third time since he carried Keiji into the hospital. Sakura presented him with a flat look, as if daring him to question her diagnosis one more time.

"_Yes_," she said, putting emphasis on the syllable. "Now, what exactly did he do?"

Naruto bit his lip and looked over the stunted form of the comatose boy. They were in a small, private room, not one of the curtained off quarters that most chakra-exhaustion cases would get. Naruto insisted on it as well as the presence of their village leader. This was a matter he deemed far too delicate for open discussion.

"I'll tell you when Kakashi gets here," he replied.

The couple each knew they wouldn't be waiting long as the unmistakable chakra signal of their first sensei materialized in their field of detection.

"Already here," a chipper voice announced from the windowsill. Despite the billowing robes, Kakashi still managed to maintain a certain grace as he entered the room through the limited opening.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura barked. "You are the _Ho-ka-ge!_ You cannot go in and out of windows anymore! You have a reputation to uphold!"

"Maa, maa," Kakashi waved her off. Sakura huffed loudly. "So what seems to be so problematical that you had to call me away from my duties as an esteemed village leader?"

"Like you're complaining," Naruto muttered.

"You know you wanna do it," Kakashi urged.

"No, I don't."

"Yes. I can tell. You are jealous off all the fun I have—"

"If you'd be so kind as to tell us what's going on, _Hunny_," Sakura said lowly, curtailing the age-old argument. Really, she was supposed to be off the clock now.

Naruto quickly remembered himself.

"You're right. Sorry, babe. Please observe exhibit 'A'," He made a sweeping gesture over Keiji's bedridden form.

"Chakra exhaustion, I've heard," Kakashi deadpanned.

"Yes," Naruto said. "Exhaustion brought on from using wind chakra to bury a kunai into a tree."

Kakashi and Sakura stared at him for a moment.

"Like...what you do?" Sakura asked for clarity. "To sharpen weapons?"

"Nothing to that magnitude, but yes."

"That's...amazing," Kakashi stated, now observing the unconscious lad in a new light. "At this age...to utilize elemental chakra for combat...well of course he probably has excellent chakra control considering his mother...but still..."

"I gave him one of the chakra papers beforehand," said Naruto. Kakashi immediately noted the hesitance in Naruto's voice; the man seemed uncertain about the entire matter.

"And it split in two?" asked Sakura with mild incredulity. She was fourteen when she got the paper given to her by Tsunade-sama to crumble. Naruto shook his head, relieving the woman for only a minute before he replied.

"It did everything."

Once again, he found himself on the receiving end of two, dubious stares.

"Everything," he stressed again when neither said anything. "I didn't even recognize it at first. When he channeled chakra into it nothing happened—as I suspected—but then...like some delayed reaction...I found it—on the ground—wet and burnt and crumpled...everything!"

His audience seemed to snap out of their stupor.

"Are you sure that was it?" "Where is it?"

Naruto waved a hand carelessly, ceasing the questions. "It disintegrated when I touched it, otherwise, I would have brought exhibit 'B'. And yes, I'm sure that was it. It still had his chakra signatures lingering on it."

"The paper could have been faulty..." Sakura offered weakly.

"That's what I thought right before I saw him put one of the elements to use."

"Well..." Kakashi began after a short moment of introspection, "this could prove valuable for Konoha. Think of the shinobi he could become if he mastered every type of elemental chakra?"

Again, Naruto had a retort ready.

"This could also be dangerous. No, really. Think of all the people who could control every element."

"There have only ever been two," Sakura mumbled. "Those possessing—"

"UZUMAKI!"

All conscious occupants of the room stared at the closed door, where what sounded to be a thunderous woman prepared to emerge.

"Here comes momma bear," Kakashi grinned despite himself.

"Ah shit," Naruto whispered under his breath just before the thin door was swept to the side.

"Uzumaki, _what_ did you do to my son?" Kurenai hissed. Despite directing her statement to him, she hardly gave Naruto another look as she made a beeline for the bedside chair.

"He's fine, Kurenai-san," Sakura offered. "It's just chakra exhaustion. He tired himself out trying to show something to Naruto."

Kurenai released a small sigh. Hearing that Naruto was seen carrying her son to the hospital did nothing to calm her nerves. She already lost one man she loved to the Akatsuki. Nothing against Naruto, but as their number one target, she didn't need to lose another.

"What was he trying to show you?" she asked Naruto with far more calm than she had a minute ago. She ran a hand through her son's dark hair, reminding herself of the same texture her husband's had.

Naruto didn't answer at first. He stared, open mouthed, at the face he looked into. Not the face—the eyes. He was staring into a pair of red-ringed eyes.

"I—uh—sorry, he wanted to prove that he could use wind chakra," he answered quietly, blinking many times to clear his head and answer accordingly. "Maybe I should have paid more attention but...he was so sure of himself it was funny. I didn't actually think he could..."

Dawning reached Kurenai's face, lighting up her eyes and bringing Naruto's focus back to them. For some reason he pictured another set of concentric eyes—grey and cold and intent on causing him misery.

Naruto shook his head. No. Kurenai only had one ring and her eyes were red, not grey. There had to be some explanation.

"Ah, yes. Well, then, I suppose I should apologize to you as well," the woman offered, unaware to his internal debate.

This caught Naruto completely off guard.

"Apologize?" he echoed. "For what?"

"My son can get a bit carried away with his dreams. I've often seen him and his friends boasting about who would be the best sage or wind master."

If anything else, Naruto appeared even more lost. He cocked his head to the side and gave his girlfriend a sideways glance. Sakura had to bite her lip to stifle the giggle that threatened to erupt.

"Come on, Naruto. You can't tell me you haven't noticed?" She asked. When no understanding was conveyed back to her, she continued. "Half the kids in this village idolize you. Especially after the Amaterasu incident."

Kurenai hummed in agreement and kept a soft gaze settled on her son.

"Unfortunately, wind chakra's so rare in these parts. At lot of kids will be disappointed," she said softly.

"I suppose he must have known he had the power to back it up," Kakashi mused. "Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so adamant in insisting you to train him. Probably had been practicing on his own this whole time..."

Naruto left Kakashi to his reverie and turned to address an issue he found far more pressing than Keiji's reasons for seeking training.

"Kurenai, what do you know about your lineage?"

The woman looked startled at the abrupt change of topic and gave him her full attention.

"I'm sorry?"

"Can you tell me why your eyes are the way they are?" Naruto asked, mincing his words a bit as he tried to express himself in the most inoffensive way he could. "I mean...is it a bloodline?"

"My family has always been good at genjutsu, I suppose it had something to do with that," Kurenai answered, not sounding offended in the least.

Kakashi nodded mutely.

"And everyone had similar eyes? It wasn't some dormant trait?" he added, catching on.

Kurenai, slightly confused but willing to oblige, answered, "Well, not in my father since he married into the family. But my sister, our mother...her sisters...my grandmother..."

"Just girls?" Sakura asked, picking up the pattern just quickly. Having a third person jump into the questioning appeared to put Kurenai on edge because she regarded the young woman with certain wariness before responding.

"Keiji...he's been the first boy born into the family in...well...as far as I can remember. Why does this matter?"

Naruto bit his lip, feeling a sliver of worry wedge itself deep into his subconscious.

"How far back can you trace your lineage?" he asked instead of answering. Kurenai looked highly annoyed with him.

"Not far," she said shortly.

"How about any of your family members?"

"All killed. About twenty-five years ago."

Naruto jerked as though someone had physically struck him. It was hardly perceptible, but as he was standing right in between Sakura and Kakashi, he knew it went detected.

"O-oh..." he stuttered out. She had turned away when she answered; she had given an exact number of years. It was obvious how her family had died.

"We're sorry for the abrupt questioning, Kurenai-san," Sakura apologized on behalf of both men while leaning forward in a short bow. She began to prod the two males towards the door. "It was just a subject brought up earlier and our curiosity got the better of us. I apologize if we offended you at all."

"No offense taken," said Kurenai, though she regarded them with suspicion. Kakashi and Naruto appeared bewildered at being herded out of the room so suddenly.

"Keiji should be all set to leave as soon as he wakes up. Just keep him from using ninjutsu for the next day or so."

The genjutsu mistress smiled at the news.

"Thank you, Sakura. I will."

With one last bow, Sakura exited the room and turned to her companions.

"Are you alright?" Sakura asked Naruto quietly as soon as the door slid shut.

It took Naruto a moment to realize what she could be referring to. Then it hit him.

"Ah, that, yes," he felt decidedly uncomfortable with how she scrutinized his response. Kakashi didn't help with his subtler, but just as noticeable, perusal.

"It's fine," he insisted to their quiet stares. "I just felt bad for bringing it up."

Truthfully, Naruto had gotten far too used to the subject of the Kyuubi being buried. The villagers accepted him—with apparent hero-worship in some cases—and no one had mentioned losing someone to the attack in what felt like years.

Technically, he was still a Jinchuuriki, as he still harbored the seal and the chakra. But without the Kyuubi's life force to tie it down, Naruto had become, of sorts, the new demon. With the Kyuubi's "death" came a rebirth, and that rebirth held no ties to the bitterness of old. This encounter would serve as a reminder that not everyone could escape that past as he had.

"Anyway," he started, more to himself than anyone else, "I don't think this is something we should advertise."

Kakashi looked deceitfully bemused.

"What? That Keiji has some skewed, watered-down version of the Rinnegan granting him an affinity to every element that is apparently dormant in women?"

"Yes," Naruto deadpanned. "Announce that one more time, why don't you?"

"Privacy bubble," Kakashi cheerfully pointed out and Naruto had to wonder at how far gone he must have been not to notice.

"What do you suggest we do?" Sakura asked. "Just ignore this?"

"No..." Naruto paused, trying to think of what they _should_ do. "I'm just afraid of what could happen if he found out about this. That he could be a descendant from one of the first ninja with all the perks. For now it's just the elements...but what if there's more later on? I mean, someday he could be killing and reviving people to his liking, taking over bodies..."

"You could have more faith in him. I don't think he'd go crazy with power," Sakura pointed out. "And besides, we don't know if this is the Rinnegan for sure."

"He's a little too ambitious for my comfort," Naruto disputed. "I mean, he got a taste of what he was capable of with wind-chakra and heckled me to train him. What if he finds out there's no one in this village who can further help him with his abilities...?"

Silence pressed down on the small group at the veiled reminder of another who felt the village couldn't offer him what he needed.

"He's not Sasuke," Sakura said quietly.

Naruto was quick to respond, "I know. I just...don't what to see it happen again."

His daughter liked Keiji—as a friend, he assured himself—and he would never, ever want her to feel what he felt when his best friend turned his back on them.

"We take his training slow," Kakashi stated. His two former students looked at him as though just remembering he was included. "One element at a time. For all we know, he could just have diluted blood from the original wielder and has only this omni-element ability. If we ease him into this, he can simply think he's special in that respect and nothing more."

"I'll train him if he does one year on a team," Naruto sighed. Kakashi engaged him with an amused stare.

"Will you, now?"

"Yes," Naruto returned, feeling dramatic for sighing a second time, "I will. My kids are about ready to fly on their own...one more year should do it."

Sakura rubbed his arm, comfort radiating from her touch.

"Amazing how attached you can get, isn't it? At least I have Kagami who wants to continue training in the medical arts with me."

"You'd be amazed how much they stick around after you try to get rid of them," Kakashi voiced. Sakura knocked his arm playfully; though, judging by the wince Naruto caught on Kakashi's face, it hit harder than she realized.

"Don't even pretend you don't miss us as your 'cute, little genin'," Sakura grinned.

"Wouldn't dream of it," the tall man mumbled, rubbing his arm.

Shaking his head at his girl's freakish strength, Naruto searched for some finality.

"So, are we in agreement? We keep our theory to ourselves?"

Sakura nodded. "We'll break a new element on him every few years once he has one mastered. He certainly can't pull off your shadow-clone training."

"Shikamaru won't be happy," Kakashi advised.

"I know, I know," Naruto sighed. "He'll get Keiji for a year. It might be dishonest, but I'd rather have his elemental training under my supervision rather than leaving him to his own devices. Maybe I can influence him better..."

Naruto trailed off, catching himself before he uttered more than he meant to. Unfortunately, of all the people he knew, Sakura and Kakashi were the two who could best understand his unspoken messages.

"Damn it, Naruto! He. Is. Not. Sasuke," Sakura growled, stepping up and poking the blond in the chest with every word. "He's a good kid. He's not crazy on avenging." She grabbed the inner margins of his vest and pulled him closer so that their hips bumped. "Just _listen_ to me and have a little faith in him."

She lifted herself on her toes while simultaneously pulling down on his vest until their lips met in a sound kiss. He may have been a clone, but the chakra thrumming through his body kept his mouth warm and his tongue moist so that Sakura felt as if she were kissing the real thing.

She didn't mean for the kiss to go so far—certainly not for her to snake her tongue into his mouth and certainly not in front of the Hokage—but she missed him; she always did when he left on these missions. Reluctantly she pulled away, inhaling his scent that even lingered on his clones. Despite her earlier hard words to him, she couldn't help but meet his eyes with tenderness.

"Now, if I'm not needed any more," she patted his firm chest and stepped away, drawing up as much composure as she could, "I'm going home for a bath. You'll be back in a couple days, right, hun?"

The clone appeared stupefied for a moment, giving her a slight, dazed grin.

"Uh...yeah. Should be."

"Good," Sakura let her hand slide down his stomach as she pulled away. Naruto watched her leave, his eyes glued to her swaying hips that he _knew_ she was doing on purpose, but couldn't seem to help himself either way.

A throat cleared and he tore his eyes away from Sakura's saunter to see Kakashi shaking his head.

"What?" Naruto asked, suddenly feeling defensive.

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Naruto crouched within the foliage of his hideaway. Cautiously, as not to disturb the environment anymore than he had to, he bent his head a little lower to get a clearer view through one of the many leaf gaps. The patterns of light speckling his pants danced across his leg as he moved.

He opened his mouth and in a low, even voice that blended perfectly with the sound of nature said, "Oki, layout."

He already knew the layout; he didn't even need eyes to know it, but this was training for them.

The earpiece that he tolerated only for this mission fizzled as his chuunin's voice bloomed at his right ear.

"They've got seven jounin; one team of four which are forming a circle around the three sealing experts. They're probably the less experienced fighters."

"Good. Ringo."

"Three of the squadron are armed with katana, one has a giant ono...he looks to be the squadron leader. The seals masters are equipped with a lot of scrolls—there's no telling how many weapons are in there—and one of them has a bundle of sorts. I can't make out what it is but—"

"A baby," Naruto cut in shortly.

"A baby?!" Oki hissed.

"That's the Jinchuuriki...isn't it?" Toshi's voice crackled with the reception and that hated term sounded even harsher to Naruto's ears.

He frowned and peered through the foliage once again, narrowing his eyes at a tall yet thin jounin that carried the sacrifice. He could hear the child's fusses and squirms carried on the wind, as though it already knew it faced damnation.

"Not if we can help it," he dropped to the forest floor fluidly to land in a kneel. He gripped Stick tightly in his left hand and the bark creaked within the hold. "Wait for my cue. I'll take out the leader, and aim for the outer unit. I want you three to focus on the seals masters, but be careful about the baby."

"Yes, sir!"

"But, sensei...I thought you hate attacking from the shadows...?" Toshi's voice questioned hesitantly.

Naruto grimaced at the seemingly innocent query.

"I do," he answered gruffly, "but you're ninja, so you might as well see how this ought to be done. Now, take off your headbands."

The same syllable repeated from every microphone: "Huh?"

"Off," he ordered again. "We can't have this being linked to Konoha. In fact, it would probably be best if you could hold a henge at the same time. Just pretend you're rogue ninja being badass."

"Sweet," Ringo hissed.

"Sensei..." Oki started lowly, "can't we just scare them off? Isn't that what you usually do?"

"They already know we're here," Naruto answered, much to his teams' alarm. "Just aim to cripple and make sure there's at least one left to take the baby back to Kirigakure."

When he conducted solo missions, he could attack from long distances, completely out of the range of detection. He found if humans thought they were against nature or any other untamed, powerful force, they often were willing to leave without a fight. But, he knew it was high time for his students to become more involved with the fight against Jinchuuriki creation. Call it a demon's intuition, but he had an unshakable feeling that the underground obstruction he and Kirabi ran was about to come to an end.

"Ready?"

He received three affirmative noises, each one not quite forming into a solid word.

For a moment the three chuunin sat within their respective hiding spots with bated breaths, waiting for anything to happen.

Then, several things happened at once.

One of the men vanished into a poof of smoke—the only indication that their sensei had done something before two more fell to the ground in screams, clutching at the backs of their knees and heels that had suddenly started to bleed profusely. The tendons must have been cut, for they were unable to rise again. The hands that tried to stop the bleeding were shaky and wet, alluding to the wrist tendons being severed as well.

The fourth jounin of the outer circle tried to escape whatever invisible attack was happening, bouncing high into the air the second the atmosphere was disturbed. His left Achilles' heel was cut, but that didn't stop him from unsheathing his katana while airborne.

The sword pulsed with unmistakable chakra as he swung it overhead.

"Suito—urk!"

Wires flew out from an old cedar tree, wrapping around the blade and halting the attack with a powerful yank. The mist-nin nearly lost his weapon and held fast, only to be slammed back into the ground.

"Susumu!" one of the downed jounin yelled. Struggling through the pain jarring his movements, he reached into his thigh-pouch with an unsteady and slippery hand. He tried to grasp a handful of shuriken, but his fingers wouldn't move now that he not longer reined over the muscles. He meant to throw the stars into the tree from where the wires emerged with the best of his limited ability, but a stunning blow to the side of the head knocked him into blissful oblivion, halting the motion of his arm.

The other man who had all his tendons cut only received a glimpse of a small, dark-haired girl before he too was taken down by a powerful kick to the temple...but not before he managed to get one, simple jutsu off.

The air around the unit began to concentrate, humidifying into a thick mist that cloaked both attackers and defenders.

"_Doton: Dorou Doumur_!" the two jounin of the inner circle who weren't burdened with an infant recited. A clay dome rose from the ground and covered the tall seals master and the baby, shielding them away from the chaos. Immediately, the two standing put their back to the encasing with weapons raised.

"Who are you? What is the meaning of this?" one demanded with all calm he could muster. This unseen force already took out their best fighters in seconds—who knew what this enemy was capable of?

For a reply, they received the pained scream of one of their teammates and crackles of light that briefly drew their attention to the fog on their left. Unknown to them, Ringo empowered the wires wrapped around his captive with lightning, shocking the man down a painful road to unconsciousness.

"What do we do?" the jounin who initially spoke muttered to his partner. "They've taken out Susumu, Akio and Masaru! Could they be after the demon as well?"

The other shook his head, not knowing the answer himself, and took a step closer to their assignment.

"Just focus on water jutsu," he issued as decisively as he could. "We can use the mist to our advantage and...," his head swiveled around, looking for more than just aggressors, "wait a minute...where's the captain?"

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Naruto knew from the moment he saw the captain rupture into a burst of smoke during his first attack that this would be a very..._irritating_ experience. Water clones were one thing...shadow clones were a whole other matter.

His kids could handle the inner circle of the convoy, especially after the advantage he handed them by incapacitating the defensive squad, and it gave him the confidence needed to leave them to their own devices. He knew the captain had switched out of his formation to keep surveillance on their pursuers, leaving a doppelganger in his stead.

Naruto acted too fast for the captain to prevent the crippling attacks on his team, but the captain was able to keep Naruto from pressing forward. As soon as the captain's body disappeared from the road, Naruto had no choice but to attack the real jounin before said man targeted one of his students.

Their first face-to-face contact came when Naruto appeared before the captain, who had been preparing to eliminate Ringo in the midst of his wire attack. Naruto arrived with the same speed he took out the formation with and landed a crushing blow to the captain's sternum, sending the man flying past several trees.

By the time Ringo glanced over his shoulder, he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Naruto continued to drive the man back—he wanted more distance between them and his team in case the jounin had some massive attacks up his sleeve. The man wasn't unskilled. He wielded his axe as a shield against Naruto's strikes and rather aptly at that. Naruto knew the weapon was empowered by chakra and didn't want to risk Stick by using it as an offense. Instead he stuck to taijutsu, nimbly dodging the oversized blade and pressing forward in the after-swing, taking advantage of every opening until they were pushed at least a kilometer away from their starting point.

Now the two broke apart and faced off; Naruto knew to keep the most dangerous jounin for himself, the captain knew to keep the most dangerous enemy from further damaging his mission.

"You know the kage bunshin?" Naruto asked in a suppressed voice. "Impressive, considering it's only supposed to be documented in Konohagakure's forbidden scroll."

"Ha ha! You think they'd let just anybody handle a mission such as this?" The jounin boasted. Naruto bit his tongue to keep from reminding the man how easily his squad members fell not two minutes ago.

The jounin continued, either stalling or building false bravado. "The Hidden Leaf thought they could keep this little beauty a secret, but Kirigakure has a habit of reaching even the most covertly guarded secrets!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes. It was discovered not too long ago that a ninja existed within Kirigakure's walls bearing an implanted byakugan. _That_ had certainly caused uproar in the Hyuuga district; unfortunately the "finders keepers" rule was generally accepted throughout the world of ninja. If the Hyuuga had a problem with it, they would simply have to steal it back.

"So it seems," Naruto settled on coolly.

Something caught his eye in the distance. He couldn't be sure, but it looked as though a giant snake of some sort had just reared its head above the treetops. It was gone a second later, settling back into the cloud of mist that concentrated the area they had just come from and leaving Naruto to wonder if he had hallucinated.

The distraction cost him.

"You want to see the power of this jutsu? _Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_!"

Naruto suddenly found himself in the middle of a swarm of identical, eerily grinning Kiri-nin. Idly, he wondered if this was how his opponents felt when facing him: a bit claustrophobic.

Not bothering to admire, awe or cower before the fifty or so shadow clones, Naruto worked up to a cold, if not ironic, laugh.

"You think this is funny?" One of clones asked from behind him.

"You're outnumbered fifty-to-one," another sneered. "Just give up! It's impossible to tell which is the real one—that's the beauty of this jutsu!"

Rubbing at his eye, Naruto regarded the surrounding army with cool mirth, calming down into a hard chuckle.

"You can't beat me with this jutsu," he said, feeling annoyed that someone had the gall to even _attempt_ it on him. "This is _my_ jutsu!"

Effortlessly, Naruto twirled and slashed Stick towards the one body that had more than just chakra flowing through it. The razor-thin sickle of wind erupting from Stick may have been invisible, but the results were not.

"Gurk—!" Blood bubbled out of one of the men's mouth as he staggered backwards into a tree, clutching his chest where a deep abrasion split the folds of both clothes and skin. Every clone snuffed out of existence with several distinct 'poofs'. The captain of the Kiri-nin dazedly wondered at how the fight could be over when it hadn't even started, how the man knew which one he was, how he had been struck down in the first place...

Weakly fighting through thick shock, the man focused on the simple weapon with bugged eyes. The gaze hazily shifted to Naruto.

"Y-you're..."

The man couldn't find the strength to scramble any further back into the tree when Naruto calmly stepped up with an eyebrow raised.

"Oh, you recognize me?"

He had on a mild henge—a change of hair color, a lighter skin tone without the whiskers—but he supposed his reputation preceded him; he certainly wasn't humble enough to assume it hadn't. Brandishing Stick around these days was equivalent to wearing a nametag.

A mix of saliva and blood dribbled off the man's bottom lip as he choked out, "J-jinchuu—sage—"

Naruto frowned a sincere and regretful frown.

"I'm sorry," he said softly, yet plenty loud for the jounin to hear. "Now, I have to kill you."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Yo! We good?" Naruto asked when he walked up to his three, unrecognizable students. Compared to their usual getup of chaps and corsets they looked woefully ordinary. But nondescript was always the best way to go when one didn't want to be remembered.

"Heh, hell yeah! Look what I did!" one exclaimed. He knew this to be Ringo, for he was pointing at a disoriented man swinging from a tree branch in a spangled position by several yards of wire. Naruto grinned at the human-ornament and patted Ringo's head—his hand moved through the illusion of hair and touched the smooth skin of a shaven head.

"Nice," said Naruto appreciatively. "Not too much of a problem, then?"

"No," Oki answered, "we were right—the seals masters were better suited for sealing than fighting. Really, sensei, you didn't have to do half the work for us."

"They're skilled fighters," Naruto assured her. "If you see an opportunity to take them down effectively, then you take it; showing off is for one on one fights. Besides, what did they do when they were down...?"

"They still fought," all three answered. Two managed to fight down the urge to roll their eyes. Toshi did not.

Grinning, Naruto leaned against the large earth dome the tall boy was perched on top of.

"By the way, was that another water dragon I saw?" Naruto asked slyly.

Toshi chuckled bashfully.

"Yeah...I tried to use the mist as a water source because that's what _they_ were doing," he gestured to two different unconscious bodies. "That's probably why it came out so weak. But it served as a good distraction!"

"Well, now, I'm positive you're water natured."

"Sensei, we still have this one," Ringo said, pointing to the ball of earth he and Toshi were situated on. Without bothering to straighten from his repose, he fisted his hand and wrapped his knuckles against it. A deep, but limited thud emerged, sounding as if the vibrations within were being stopped short.

"Definitely in there. Hop off."

Toshi did so, backing off to stand next to his teammates. Naruto pushed off the solid mound and struck the butt-end of Stick against its side. Rather than having the structure fill with wind-chakra, a strong blast of air over-passed the surface and sent dirt and leaves flying for several meters off the road and well into the forest.

Momentarily baffled, Naruto pulled Stick away. He furrowed his brow and gingerly touched the surface of the dome with his skin.

"Damn, I hate it when they're stubborn," he grumbled, trying to find a feel for the chakra used in the jutsu.

"Hits a little too close to home, doesn't it, sensei? Ringo chuckled. Without turning, Naruto swung Stick around and "accidently" knocked the boy on the side of the head.

The chakra used to hold the jutsu was impressive—probably because it was from two individuals. Usually intermingling two energies from different life forms would create disharmony. Unless...

Naruto stopped his train of thought and looked to the two other sealsmen. They were sprawled in disorderly heaps with their eyes closed and faces peaceful, but the identical bone structures alone were enough to confirm his suspicions.

"Twins," he murmured aloud as he stepped back to admire the power the two forces created. "Huh...no wonder this is so strong."

"You can't get through it?" Oki asked with clear incredulity. Naruto looked back at her, affronted.

"Did I say that? This just calls for more direct contact."

Before any of his students could interpret what he was saying Naruto had thrown his hand palm first against the dome with the tips of his fingers burrowing into the surface. A series of deafening snaps resounded against the endless pillars of tree trunks, so much that it was difficult to differentiate between a fresh sound and an echo. Spreading at the five finger-points of fixation were hundreds, thousands, millions of tiny fissures, fanning wider and wider, faster and faster, until the entire dome was webbed in cracks.

Naruto pulled his hand away and stepped back to admire his work.

"What did that do," Oki asked, "besides the obvious?"

Naruto took Stick and tapped the side of the dome.

The entire fort collapsed.

Several seconds following the demolition and the dust finally began to settle, clearing to reveal what lay within. In the center of the rubble, hair and clothes lightened with the powder of the destruction, crouched the lone jounin. He huddled around the baby, keeping his head tucked in as he waited for the impending deathblow. He could hear the sounds of the fight from within his hovel, and he knew they had lost. With no one left and their mission a failure, there was nothing left for him to do but wait for his fate to be carried out.

And wait.

And wait some more.

Slowly, ever so slowly, he lifted his head, cracking an eye open against his better judgment to catch a glimpse of his executioner's face.

Only the sight of his comrades' unmoving bodies hailed him.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Ha _ha!_ Sensei, that was _awesome_!" Ringo crowed, rolling onto his back and basking in the sun's rays warming his face. Though he had seen the man wield Stick on several occasions, he never got tired of seeing his sensei in action—especially when he made things look so _easy_.

Ringo felt his canteen slip out of his slack hand.

"Hey!"

"Mine ran out!" Oki announced. She shuffled back on her knees, bringing herself well out of Ringo's reach, before throwing back her head and taking a long swig. "Ah, that's refreshing. Hey...hey! Toshi, those are mine!"

A consistent and dull crinkling drew her attention to her teammate whose hand currently scrounged around in a bag of chips.

"Mine ran out," Toshi answered, chewing noisily. He threw some chips at Ringo, who caught them laughingly and shoved them into his mouth.

With their mission finished and a complete success, the group found no reason to hurry back. Half a day into their return journey and they ran into a shallow river cutting through a thin clump of forest. The temptation to enjoy the balmy day by the cool water was too tempting for them to pass up.

Oki huffed but relented. They shared everything anyway; the indignation was all for show. She looked over to her sensei, who sat against the base of a tree. This was normal behavior for the man, but the way he held his arms out at his side, hands rigid and fingers slightly curled, was not.

"What are you doing, Naruto-sensei?"

Naruto didn't look at her; he kept his concentration centered on the air directly in front of him. It would have been cute, seeing him cross-eyed like that, if it wasn't so weird.

"Actually, I'm working on corporeal wind manipulation."

He slowly brought his hands together, keeping the clawed appearance. As the space between the two appendages lessened, it also clouded. By the time Naruto's hands were six inches apart from one another a full, opaque ball could be seen.

"Oki, do me a favor and bring me a small rock."

Eager to see what her sensei was up to, the short girl scrambled to do so, bringing to him a flat stone that fit nicely in the palm of her hand.

"This good, sensei?" she asked.

"Perfect. Now here—," he moved his hands slowly, molding the opaque mass into a crude rectangle, "place it on top of this."

Oki gingerly touched the bottom of the stone to the surface of the wind ensemble, her fingers hesitating for only a second before relinquishing the rock to the phenomenon.

"That's amazing, sensei!" She gasped when the rock stayed atop Naruto's creation. Ringo and Toshi were on their feet and had their faces squished next to Oki's in a nanosecond.

"Is that pure air? It's just holding up a rock like that?" At Naruto's nod, Ringo's face brightened. "That is _so_ cool!"

"But the mass of the rock should be greater..." Toshi muttered, shaking his head. "This makes no sense..."

"Demon thing," Naruto winked. By lacing youki into the surface of the wind...thingy...he could give it the property of lifting something several times its weight—as demons could do. On the downside, if he used too much it could prove hazardous to humans.

He began to draw his hands apart again, slowly adding fuel to the thick body of wind and broadening the area he had to work with. He may have moved his hands too quickly, or perhaps he didn't add enough chakra to compensate for the increasing patch, but the dense white of the air cleared and the rock soon dropped through and onto his lap. Gravity won this round.

"Hn, guess I have a lot of work to do," he commented and shrugged it off.

A loud caw from above startled three of the four individuals.

"Holy crap, you stupid bird!" Oki swore, clutching at her ample chest. The bird, haughty as it was, ignored her and settled on Naruto's knee. Naruto stared at the black, beady eyes and blinked in recognition.

"You again?"

The eagle released a blaring screech, attempting to impel the man into relieving it of its burden; the professionally trained bird was not used to ninjas who dawdled.

Chuckling, Naruto acquiesced, nimbly plucking the note from its bindings and unfurling it. Not two seconds later and he was on his feet, unceremoniously throwing the bird in the air. It took off, glad to be through with the man.

"What is it?" Ringo asked. "Do we get to do another mission?"

"No," Naruto answered shortly. He spared only a second to create a shadow clone for supervising his team home before shooting off into the trees and out of sight.

"S-sensei?!" Oki squeaked. She scrambled to her feet and cast an owlish stare toward the forest in which the man just disappeared.

"This can't be good," said Toshi, looking grim.

"It's not," the clone sighed. "Come on, let's get going and I'll explain on the way."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Naruto skirted along the trees surrounding Konoha at a speed nigh imperceptible to the human eye.

Otafuku Gai, the kanrakugai where Naruto first realized the extent of Jiraiya's perversion. Gone. Obliterated by a demon.

But _how_? His mind refused to wrap around it. Wouldn't someone sense a demon approaching before it attacked? Wouldn't _he_ sense it? Perhaps he would...and that was why it attacked while he was gone. No one could deny that the timing was impeccable.

Sickness clamped his stomach. How far was Otafuku Gai from Konoha? From Bassai? He redoubled his speed; he was within minutes of Konoha's gates if he kept up the pace. Combining his youki with some propelling of wind left cause for a speedy velocity.

He felt nauseous as the towering wall of Konohagakure emerged into view, and it only strengthened as he bounded over it. He wanted to chalk it up to nerves, to the 'what ifs' of that demon choosing another close-to-home village to attack.

For some inexplicable reason Naruto found he needed to stop. His legs jellied and he fell more than leaned against a shop wall naught two blocks from the administration building. He grasped at the cloth over his chest, trying to catch his breath with deep mouthfuls of air that couldn't quite satisfy him.

Why was he winded? Yes, he pushed himself more than usual but the distance was shorter than many others he covered...

Shaking his head to clear it of such mysteries, Naruto crossed his fingers and created another clone.

"Go get Hitomi," He ordered with one last gulp of fresh air before leaping towards the Hokage's office. He wanted his daughter near him and in his sight.

When swung through the open window of the Hokage's office and nearly knocked into Kakashi's desk. Either Kakashi redecorated since his clone left a couple days ago or Naruto had some serious depth-perception issues to work through.

"You're here earlier than I expected," Kakashi commented as a way of greeting.

"Don't underestimate me," Naruto clipped while subtly planting his stance a little wider to help keep his balance. He tried to hold a stern, serious look on his face but his vision kept doubling, making it difficult for him to focus on Kakashi's face. Pushing through his headache he demanded, "What happened? All your message told me was that Otafuku Gai was completely wiped out by the Gobi!"

"And so it was," Kakashi answered wearily. He looked exhausted; his eye appeared sunken and dark from a lack of sleep and his hair looked as if it had fingers running through it one time too many. Naruto wondered at how many hours Kakashi sat at that desk, assigning lower ranking ninja to help with the clean up, recalling missions, assembling defense units...

"It came and went," Kakashi continued, "just like that. We—I—I just don't know what to do about this. It seems like an unstoppable force..."

Kakashi understood the deep seeded fear and uncertainty his sensei must have felt while knowing the Kyuubi intended to destroy his village. The admiration he felt for that man became incomprehensible.

"Hey, relax. You got me here now," Naruto tried to appease. It probably would have worked better if he didn't choose that moment to experience vertigo and sway on his feet. "A-anyway, I think I should get Hitomi back here...I think she'd be safer where..."

"Are you okay?" Kakashi asked when Naruto paused to take a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"Uh, yeah, yeah," Naruto quickly spit out, forcing himself to focus just a little longer. What was wrong with him?

"Go home," Kakashi ordered as he saw Naruto begin to space out again, "and get some rest. If demons come, I want you in top form."

"Fine, fine," he grumbled. He couldn't find it in him to put up more of a fight and began making his way to the door. He didn't trust himself with jumping out the window at this point in time.

He stopped just short of the handle, turning to address the Hokage one more time.

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. The mission was a success. I have a clone bringing the kids back, and they'll be here by tomorrow morning at the latest."

Kakashi nodded and bid him off, no doubt meaning to reign in some more jounin from missions if his best defense wasn't at full health.

Naruto's journey to his apartment became increasingly difficult with every step, so much so that, by the time he reached his apartment, his movements felt feeble and sluggish. It took him three tries to get his door open.

An eddy of chaos clamored within his mind, creating a mini hurricane of worry that pressed on both his temples. He slowly made his way to the kitchen, brooding over his sudden sickness and wondering if his clones were the same. He didn't know what triggered this—if he had picked up something on the mission or not. He'd never been sick like this before; his immune system was too strong for human diseases to weaken him.

He grabbed a glass from a cupboard, banging his elbow on the counter in the process.

Naruto tried to squint at the guilty surface, wondering when and why it moved. The squinting didn't help with the dizziness and he fell forward, only just catching himself from banging his head on a suspended cabinet.

'_It's all right,' _he coaxed himself. _'I just needed a drink. And then I'll lie down. It will be better when I wake up.'_

He fumbled with the faucet and misjudged when to turn off the water. Or rather, his hand moved too slowly in turning it off so that the liquid spilled over the sides of the glass and down his wrist.

If his clones were sick...could the clone he sent for Hitomi get her sick? What if he lost control of the clone and it dispelled?

The sudden need for Sakura to return gripped Naruto with chilling force; he wanted someone more stable than himself retrieve Hitomi.

The glass slipped through his suddenly lax fingers and shattered against the wooden floor, sending shards and water everywhere. Naruto belatedly looked at it, frowning. Was he having an out of body experience of some sort? Why couldn't he react properly? Were his thoughts even making sense?

He could understand his own mind, but his body wasn't responding properly. There was something weighing him down, something unnatural...

He suddenly felt a pain in his stomach so great he needed both hands to grab it. It was the fastest he'd moved in a while as he drew his palms to the center of agony.

It felt warm and wet and smelled of salts and metals. He glared down at the source, staggering backwards as the motion of dipping his head threw him off balance. He scratched at the skin above his pelvis, desperately trying to drag the hem of his shirt up with clumsy swipes.

Finally, he managed to expose his belly up to his ribs; though he couldn't do much more than stare at the blood leaking through his seal. First it beaded out of his pores, obeying the inky outline before it gathered into dribbles that ran down his rapidly paling skin, staining his pants.

Panicked distress seized him as he watched his body bleed out without the control to seek help. A suffocating pressure gripped his head making him shaky, disoriented. He felt helpless. He felt scared. And no matter how much he pressed his hands to his stomach, he couldn't stop the blood.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Oh noes! He ded.

Getting back into the swing of things now, shit going down and all that jazz. But things always get worse before they get better. I never meant for it to take so long to get to this point; we still have to take out the Akatsuki. This may get up to 40 chapters—possibly 50...you know, until Naruto deems the world safe enough for his daughter. Though knowing him that could be impossible.

I think Kurenai and Asuma may have been married, since I'm pretty sure she had a ring on her finger in one manga chap. I also feel like I should remind people that Keiji is not going to be a major, major character, nor is he going to be super-powered. Just in case some fool wants to freak out at me.

This chapter's editor is the grammar guru **DarkHeroOrion**, who went to town on my inability to properly use commas...thank him! I am such an editor whore, always bouncing around.

Thanks for those that continue to support me through this. I know it's hard to get back into this, seeing as it was just summer break, but now it's time for the story to pick back up!

So go on, let me know what cha think: good, bad, ugly—you name it.


	29. Fitting the Pieces

**Chapter 29**

"Fuzz-wad! Get back here!"

Hitomi's playful laugh jounced as freely between the trees as the scurrying mustelid that fled from her advances. Though a creature of the forest by nature, Fuzz-wad found itself pitted against a similar being by nurture, and over the years Hitomi proved herself the faster of the two through their daily chases. Today would be no different.

"Caught you!" The girl shrieked after a four-legged bounce between three tree trunks sent her hurling on top of the animal. The pair rolled through leaves and twig for some distance; though Fuzz-wad's length from nose to tail may have equaled Hitomi's height, the girl still outweighed him by several kilograms. She hugged the animal to her chest—the bristly pelt of an adult fisher didn't bother her cheek in the least as she nuzzled into its head.

"You're so cute," she cooed lovingly, but the fisher knew better than to relax. Sure enough, Hitomi's next move maneuvered the pet to face her, now held out by two hands. Her voice fell from its former tone of fondness, "Now give me my clip."

Fuzz-wad held her gaze for a moment longer, the black, beady eyes unblinking in a show of complete bewilderment. Finally its mouth opened, thin fangs displayed, and a silver and blue hair-clip dropped to the forest floor. Hitomi beamed.

"Good boy!" she crushed it into another bruising hug before turning her attention to the clip—a birthday present fro Leela last year and one of her favorite hairpieces. If there were any teeth marks present there'd be hell to pay.

"Hm...looks alright," she assessed, turning the clip over in her hands. She smiled at Fuzz-wad. "You're off the hook today, Fuzzy-Wuzzy!"

Fuzz-wad accepted the rather hard pat on the head, its round ears perking as keen senses picked up an approaching arrival. Hitomi, too, found herself on alert before she realized she even sensed anything.

Her small nose twitched as she lifted it to the air, an odd behavior to see from a child but those who knew her had long since grown used to it.

Her face broke out into a wide grin and she shot off along the ground with ardent giddiness.

"C'mon, Fuzz-wad! Dad's back!" she hollered over her shoulder. The fisher released a mix between a yip and a bark and bounded after the girl.

"Dad! Daddy!" Hitomi called as she saw the outline of her father grow clearer amongst the high tree branches. Using the woods in between Bassai and Konoha proved a faster form of travel between their homes, as well as a more direct route when compared to the roads. She and her father always took the shortcut, being able to recognize every tree as a separate landmark from their almost daily excursions in the forest. It was almost impossible for her to get lost on such familiar grounds, so she knew she wouldn't be in trouble for straying so deep.

As Hitomi approached, she made note of the lacking aura. It didn't matter much to her; she still saw his clones as her father—after all, they were a part of the man. They were simply replacement bodies until she had the real thing.

"Hey, baby!" he greeted, his voice sounding drained and weary. He stopped his tree hopping first, settling into a slow gait on the ground and allowing Hitomi to finish covering the distance between them. As she neared she could see his complexion was quite pale and his face was set into a strange grimace—like he was trying to smile in spite of discomfort.

Regardless of his obviously weakened state, she still barreled into him at a ludicrous speed. Naruto only just managed to keep his footing as his child torpedoed into his stomach.

"Daddy!"

Naruto laughed—laboriously, had she paid attention—and wrapped his large arms around her in a consuming hug. She breathed in his sent, content to have a piece of her father with her once more.

"Hey," he said again, softer. He didn't want to do anything to upset the joy his little girl radiated. "You missed me that much?"

Hitomi nodded and pulled her face out of his midriff.

"What's happening to daddy?" she asked the clone frankly, staring him straight in the eye as she addressed her foremost concern. The clone knew he must have looked like hell; something was happening to his source...something unexplainable...

"Your dad isn't feeling well," the clone answered, "so I'm going to take you back to Konoha. You heard about the village that was attacked by a demon, right?"

Hitomi nodded again and a brief, fearful look overtook her features as she recalled those few, terrifying hours. Unconsciously, her small fingers gripped his vest and he could feel her claws puncture through the cloth (he could tell her a thousand times to stop shredding his clothes but it never seemed to strike home).

"I could feel it, dad! All that heat and anger and...and..._evil!_ I knew it was close and it was so scary because I was sure it was coming for us next! I slept with Juju-baachan that night but she didn't understand—she couldn't even sense it...the humans could only see the glowing far away...they weren't as scared as they should have been! I wish you were there..."

Her father wore an openly pained expression on his face and she couldn't tell if it was due to regret or a physical ailment.

"I'm sorry, babe," said Naruto with genuine remorse. He swallowed and coughed a couple times and gently pried his daughter from his clothes. "Come on; let's get you back to your dad."

Hitomi nodded and held his hand, going at the clone's pace of a slow walk. It felt far too slow for Hitomi, who, upon seeing her father's clone in such condition, could only feel anxiety coursing through her small body. She wanted to see her real father more than ever, if only to make sure he was safe.

"Are you sure you're going to be all right?" she asked apprehensively. The larger hand that held hers felt loose and weak. Now that she had her own skin to compare, he realized her father's clone was almost paper white.

"What's wrong?" she asked again, this time her voice held undertones of hysteria. Something was very wrong with her father if his clones looked this bad. And it was happening at such a rapid pace. Hitomi watched in morbid fascination as the clone became increasingly gaunt.

Aging, dying and swaying on the spot.

"D-dad—!?"

The clone moaned, falling into a crouch and gripping its stomach with its free hand. Hitomi refused to relinquish the one she held—her only viable connection to her father.

Unfortunately for her, that comfort was taken in the next second anyway with a distinct 'pop'.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"O-oi!"

"What the—sensei!?"

"Where'd he go?"

Team five immediately ceased their travel as the leading figure of their sensei's clone poofed out of existence, and fell into a wide bed of ferns that grew around the thick tree-roots. The clone had been slowing for sometime, but the chuunin were too distracted in their own thoughts of the Yonbi's attack to think anything of it until just then.

"Do you think something happened?" Oki asked worriedly. She glanced around the otherwise empty forestlands for some sort of clue as to what was going on.

"Maybe he just trusted us to make the rest of the trip alone?" Ringo offered weakly. He knew, even as the words left his mouth, this was false.

"No," Toshi responded automatically. "Not after a mission like that...and you saw how he took off earlier...something bad's happened."

A niggle had taken to aggravating the depths of his subconscious, like there were puzzle pieces being presented before him and he wasn't making a connection. The Sanbi lured Konoha's greatest defense against the bijuu away from the village...only to have the Yonbi attack nearby Konoha. _Nearby_.

Someone had to be behind this, someone who could control the bijuu. They didn't want to piss off Naruto-sensei, they didn't want his wrath; they wanted to scare him.

He voiced his concerns to his teammates, who each, in turn, drew a grim face.

"I bet it's Akatsuki," Oki glowered. "They've been so quiet; half the villages think these bijuu attacks are just the demons getting antsy. Who's going to think each one is could be herding Naruto-sensei to exactly where they want him?"

The concept was terrifying—that everything their sensei had been working for had been a set-up.

"Then there's no point in us standing around here," Ringo stated with far more strength in his voice than he previously expressed. "Something's not right, we know that, and we've got to find sensei."

Oki and Toshi exchanged sharp nods with each other and the trio took to the trees once more, now hampered with fresh dread to augment their initial unease.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Shikamaru knocked on the door with sharp, dogged raps and waited. For once, his infamous patience escaped him, and every second spent staring at that chipping, red paint added to his pique.

He heard from Kurenai, who had been informed by the Hokage that, due to Keiji's sudden gift in elemental manipulation, Naruto would be taking over his training at some point.

This shocked him, for Shikamaru knew that his own vast knowledge and comprehension on the mechanics of elemental chakra manipulation left him more than proficient for the job. What shocked him further was Naruto's consent to it—Naruto, whom he confided in as teenagers about his dream to become the sensei to Asuma's kid as Asuma had been to him.

Anger would be unreasonable; Shikamaru wanted Keiji to have the best possible options that life could give him, and he knew he couldn't perform elemental jutsu as Naruto could. But to take over Keiji's training—most likely before the boy even became a chuunin—now that stung.

He wanted to confront Naruto first before he jumped to any conclusions. He wanted to hear Naruto's reasons for accepting something so important to him before he gave into indignation.

'_Naruto is my friend,'_ Shikamaru tried to conciliate himself_. 'Naruto knows I've been looking forward to this...Naruto wouldn't take this away from me without a good reason.'_

The man smothered the urge to loll his head back and observe the cracks in the ceiling. He didn't pack his hands in his pockets and slouch into his comfortable position of waiting. He pounded against the door again.

"Ugh, Naruto open up!" Shikamaru raised his voice to a level he rarely used outside of combat.

"What are you doing?"

Shikamaru slowly dragged his eyes to the source of the woman's voice and met Sakura's mildly annoyed frown, complete with a raised eyebrow and a hand on her hip.

"I need to talk to your boyfriend," he answered. His irritation was palpable, but Sakura wasn't one to let another's bad mood intimidate her.

"Enough for you to shout at my door?" Sakura asked. Shikamaru had to pause before answering; he had been so busy with his own clan dealings as of late that he hadn't taken any notice of how far Naruto and Sakura's relationship had progressed. The public didn't discuss the blond's love life as flagrantly as his accomplishments, but he thought he'd at least hear something from Ino.

"I know he's in there," he shrugged and took a step back so Sakura could take the lead in. "He's probably asleep or something."

"He just got back from a mission, so of course he's tired," Sakura said with a roll of her eyes as she pushed passed the tall man and opened the unlocked door.

Walking into the window-lit sitting room with a familiarity that suggested she had been living there for sometime, Sakura threw the lab coat she had hung over her arm onto the couch and pulled out the clip holding back her hair. She ran her fingers through the length a couple times, easing out the tension a long day at the hospital wore into her nerves.

Shikamaru followed her in, closing the door behind him. From the foyer, the apartment certainly _looked_ lived in; there were vaguely familiar academy assignments half-filled and forgotten on a coffee table, a small, girlish jacket crumpled beneath a rocking chair, and a few potted plants arranged into the layout—some of which bore chewed leaves.

"I'll go get him," Sakura announced and she left Shikamaru standing in the living room as she navigated her way to the bedroom.

The woman had a pretty good idea of Shikamaru's reason for being there, especially with such a scowl on his face. Kakashi needed to give Kurenai a general idea on what Keiji's future looked like now that the boy bore such a gift. As far as she knew, Keiji's training would only pass onto Naruto after he spent some time on a team; Shikamaru would still get his chance to leave his influence on Asuma's child. It's not like he hadn't been doing just that over last nine years. The timing would simply be cut short.

Sakura sighed at the vanity of men.

Naruto wasn't without his own arrogance, of course. He had a great power that he knew how to use, and he _knew_ this about himself. He didn't need to use that false bravado and brazen arrogance that he displayed as a child to cover his insecurities, for those insecurities were proven unfit long ago; Naruto's battle prowess was nothing to be insecure about.

He didn't flaunt it; he even tried to downplay it by keeping up an unassuming image, but he couldn't ignore the reality that he was faster, stronger, and held a greater understanding of the unearthly world than the rest of the population. She knew he sustained this cautiously guarded acknowledgement that set him apart from humans; that, at times, he saw them as inferior.

It had to be a demonic instinct of sorts that planted such a feeling within him, for Sakura knew Naruto wasn't the type of person to condone superiority. He fought it, but he didn't disavow it, and sometimes she worried if it would tear them apart in the end. After all, _she_ was human.

Getting used to a more animalistic Naruto was a complicated process. He acted calm, silly even, in public, but when together she'd heard him growl and purr with vocals no human could possess. She'd both seen and felt those sharp, smooth canines along her skin and against her tongue. He'd bitten her and sniffed her, she became intimately familiar with the claws that only came to notice when he was using them on her. It had been strange and thrilling. The sex was great—often rough, but she got used to the scratches and bruises and his sometimes-insatiable appetite for her body. She grew to revel in it.

After the first year or so enjoying the stimulation of exploring and expanding what they shared, their relationship had come to a standstill. Not a bad development by any means; they'd simply grown comfortable with each other's presence and their daily routines. She wasn't falling out of love; she still experienced those phenomenal sensations when he was near. Such as the little swoops in her stomach she would get (and hate at the time) when Naruto returned from his training with Jiraiya—those never stopped. Even today she still got that fluttery feeling in her chest, that fleeting shock of exhilaration, whenever Naruto came up behind her and gently touched her sides, or laid feather-light kisses from her eyelids to her jaw line. She knew they loved each other, and she knew the attraction was still there. It was the effort needed on both parties that was lacking.

Lately Naruto's attention became divided between demons and his daughter. He put so much of his time and effort into keeping Jinchuuriki from being created—something he burdened himself with not just because he had the power of a bijuu himself, but because of his direct responsibility in the freedom of those two bijuu—that she often felt like she was working overtime to keep them together.

Sakura reached the closed door to the master bedroom and knocked softly.

"Naruto...?" she called out his name with reluctance. He was so overtaxed these days, being pulled in every other direction, and she hated to wake him.

Civilians could now read his exhaustion, a weakness once only expressed to her and Hitomi. He only required a nap every now and then back at the beginning of their relationship, when just his clones doing recon missions and Hitomi's boundless energy were wearing him down. But with the Akatsuki's suspicious movement, the demands for his assistance from other villages, and his own stupid, noble compulsion to take on responsibilities equal to his power, his fatigue mounted with each passing day. If he wasn't chasing around demons or overzealous seals masters, he was either taking care of Hitomi or unconscious.

Sakura ruefully shook her head. Juhi said he acted a lot like this when he first came to her, all pale and wary and resigned, and she assumed that he was anemic. At present, both women laughed at such a notion.

After receiving no rejoinder to her call, Sakura grasped the door handle and pushed, trying to make as little noise as possible even with the intent of rousing Naruto.

To hell with Shikamaru's jealousy. Sakura planned on climbing into bed with Naruto and spending a few moments massaging some anti-stress chakra pulses into his temples before making him face someone's inquiry. He loved when she did that, alternating between stroking his whiskers and petting his hair with his head in her lap. Only she could relax him so readily, and it sent a rousing tremor down her spine every time to know he still clung to her as a source of comfort. He needed her; Naruto—the ninja so powerful hardly anyone wanted to look past the title of Sage and Jinchuuriki and Hero because they didn't _want_ to see a floundering man that had weaknesses and insecurities like any other mortal—needed _her_. It was all she could ever ask for.

"Naru—"

Sakura ceased both her voice and her movements. Only a shoulder breeched the room as she realized the bed lay empty, made and untouched.

"_Sakura!_ Oh gods—Sakura! Get in here!"

Desperation and confusion rung so soundly in Shikamaru's summon that Sakura wasted no time in questioning him. She vanished and flickered into the kitchen, making record time, yet finding herself unable to react once there. Her legs temporarily locked as her eyes tried to force her brain into understanding what she was viewing.

Shikamaru knelt next to the prone body of Naruto. At least a liter worth of blood pooled beneath him and even more smeared across cabinets and tiles, painting a panicked, hurried background. The Nara didn't seem to notice the blood soaking into the knees of his pants; he could only stare at the horrifying mess with shaky hands that hovering unsurely over the unmoving blond.

Sakura released a single, choked sob before throwing herself to her knees.

"Naruto!" she gasped. With practiced expertise, she immediately ran a green-flushed hand along his back, checking for any damage to his spine, and then flipped him over once finding no risk for paralysis.

Sakura whimpered at his front; his shirt stuck to his body, saturated with blood that bubbled out of the fabric when the woman pressed her hand to his stomach, trying to get a feel for the wound. She couldn't detect any lacerations in the epidermis that would make his clothes a hazard to remove.

"What...what..." Shikamaru was shaking his head, unable to find words worthy of describing the situation they were in. He knew he had to get a grip; they had to get Naruto to a hospital before it was too late, that they had to find out what happened and how, _and in their own village_, but...but this was _Naruto_. He hadn't seen Naruto bleed in, well, in forever. He hadn't seen him helpless like this since that Sage incident. He could have never imagined such a scene if he weren't currently kneeling in the middle of it, sputtering and useless.

He watched, despairing, as Sakura peeled up the shirt. A squelching noise emerged, like something adhesive being pulled away from its rest and it sounded far too loud in the small, tense kitchen. Shikamaru looked away, instead focusing on the limp hands crusted in blood—a lighter, brighter red that indicated the hands were not wounded, but used to staunch the blood flow. He shifted his line of vision to Naruto's face; even while unconscious he reflected discomfort. He was in pain, but he wasn't responsive to them.

"He's not bleeding anymore…" Sakura murmured, gently rubbing away the liquid that had begun to dry against his skin. The glow of her healing hand, coupled with the shadow it cast across the seal, blocked Shikamaru's view from the damage.

"He's healed already?" Shikamaru asked, already feeling the easing of relief. Whatever this was, it looked like Naruto's regenerating abilities pulled through for them.

Sakura shook her head in the negative, raising her gaze to reveal doleful eyes.

"It's not clotted," she said in barely more than a whisper. "His blood just isn't moving."

Shikamaru felt terror grip his heart, "You mean he's—"

"No," Sakura cut in sharply, probably harsher than she meant, but she didn't want to hear those words spoken aloud.

She moved her hand from the sickly, sallow stomach and Shikamaru had to bite his tongue from yelling at the grisly sight scarring Naruto's abdomen. Vertical patches of skin over and around the seal appeared dead and sunken, like it had melted into his body, leaving a sickly outline of his stomach muscles, the tissue covering them now black and purple and rotting.

Ugly.

Sakura never thought there'd ever be a time where that word could be used to describe any part of his body. Always inhumanly flawless no matter how misleading the stress lines around his mouth and forehead were, Naruto maintained an ethereal beauty only a supernatural being could possess and only unseen to himself. He made even her feel self-conscious at times with the number of alabaster blemishes decorating her body.

"He's..." Shikamaru trailed for a moment, looking for the entire world like he both wanted and abhorred touching the mess. "He's _decaying_."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"D-daddy?" Hitomi whimpered, looking around in bewilderment when she realized she was entirely alone. She knew there was no other life form bigger than birds in the vicinity aside from she and her fisher. She didn't need to look, but her mind wouldn't accept what her senses were telling her.

She began to run with no regard to Fuzz-wad or anything surrounding her. Panic filled her as she moved through the trees using all four limbs. Her daddy was hurt. She knew it. She felt like she was out of breath and it had nothing to do with exhaustion. She was afraid. She had to get to Konoha because that's where her daddy was and he needed her because there was something so, so wrong.

'_I'm almost there,'_ she thought desperately as she passed a tract of saplings she knew to be about five minutes from Konoha's southern wall._ 'In just a few minutes I'll see—'_

"OW!" she yelped, releasing a yipping sound beneath her words. She had just run head first into something wide and big and completely invisible that currently fizzled back into an inaudible state. Whatever it was had crackled upon impact.

"O-ow…"

She whimpered piteously on the ground, unable to pick herself up after the shock of numb that flooded her body, and curled in on herself as her eyes watered.

She heard a whining that was not her own and a soft, cold muzzle nudged the hand covering her head. She uncurled with stiff movements, meeting the bleak gaze of Fuzz-wad.

"I'm okay," she told him, sniffling. She took her time picking herself up, making sure that she had not been injured after such a jolt. Satisfied with her state of being for the moment, she restarted her trek to Konoha at a slow walk, mindful and cautious.

Hitomi raised her hand and brought it hesitantly in front of her, taking one step, two steps, three—

Her hand flexed on compulsion, feeling a sharp, hissing energy that had her instincts screaming at her for standing so close to it. She gasped, taking a step back.

"What...what is this? This was never here before..."

Fuzz-wad whirred and shot past her—directly through whatever blocked her from Konoha—and turned to stare at her expectantly. Hitomi frowned at the fisher.

Determined to make it to her father, the girl began moving from side to side, trying to find a weakness in the oppressive force. She moved to the west, then to the east. She tried jumping up, she tried digging. Every now and then she would try to touch the perilous heat, only to find herself on the ground, yowling in pain.

Twenty minutes. She had spent twenty minutes trying to get past this...this..._thing_.

She glared out into space with all the energy she had left, looking a wretched mess with her burnt hands and disheveled attire.

"But...but my daddy's in there..." she bleated, as if that would make the thing go away. Frustrated tears fell hotly down her round cheeks. "This isn't fair!"

She punched the barrier in anger and desperation, screaming as she was predictably thrown back once more. This time, she didn't get up; she stayed on the ground, her hand smoking and stinging, and she cried into the leaves.

Fuzz-wad, agitated and distressed at the state of its two-legged friend, circled her twice with its fur on end. Then it paused, it lifted its nose to the air, and took off.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Oki was the first to spot and black and brown line of fur speeding to meet them on their expeditious flight back to Konoha. She directed her next jump to the ground, feeling her male teammates follow her lead and land on either side of her.

The creature drew closer, moving as fast as physically able.

"Hey, isn't that...?" Ringo started, only to have Oki 'eep' and dive behind him.

"Yep," Toshi grinned despite their situation. "That's gotta be Fuzz-wad."

The animal terrified the short girl, a well-known (and well exploited) fact amongst Team Five. Fuzz-wad reached them, jumping and mewling and hissing in alarming behavior. It impatiently bounced back and forth between the direction it just came from and their feet.

"I think it wants us to follow him," Ringo interpreted. Oki peeked out from behind his shoulder and narrowed her eyes at the mammal. It barked. She squeaked.

Toshi stepped up first, "Then let's go. This could have something to do with sensei."

Instantly somber, the other two nodded. Ever since Naruto-sensei's clone disappeared, they had been pushing themselves to reach Konoha beyond their normal limits. Their sensei focused on stamina and precision in between their individual studies, and they found it paid off that day. They couldn't have been far from their destination to be intercepted by Hitomi's pet.

They immediately set out, careening through the trees and keeping pace with the fisher.

"He's not taking us directly to Konoha..." Oki noted when their course began to veer more to the west than it should have.

"Maybe he's taking us to Bassai?" Toshi suggested. His legs were starting to burn from constantly running chakra through them and keeping his muscles active. He was sure his comrades were in a similar condition.

"No," Ringo refuted. "We're too north for that...What...what _is_ that?"

There lay a mass at the base of a nearing tree, white and blue and blonde.

"Hitomi-chan!"

The small, nine-year old girl was curled on the forest floor, sobs and coughs wracking her slight frame but remaining otherwise motionless. The three teens were immediately by her side, Oki rubbing her hand over the child's back. Hitomi persisted in being unresponsive, keeping her hands tucked into her chest and her knees up by her chin.

"Is she okay?" Ringo asked, suspending over the girl apprehensively. Things were looking worse and worse as the succession of strange events played out.

"What happened, Hitomi?" Toshi tried.

Hitomi's lip trembled and she screwed her eyes shut, like she was trying to escape a bad dream.

"I don't know...I don't know..." she got out between shuddering breaths.

"C'mon," said Oki in a soft, calming tone. She drew the girl off the ground and into her arms, rubbing at the dirt that muddied her cheeks from tears and purposely stroking the whiskers to help lower her erratic heart rate.

"What happened to her hands!?" Ringo cried, crouching down to join the two girls and gently pulling Hitomi's small hand into his own. It looked raw and red; blisters ran along the backs of her fingers. Hitomi whimpered as he touched it and Oki pulled her back into a hug.

"Right," Toshi said with a ring of finality. "We need to get her to Konoha—"

"NO!" Hitomi shrieked, practically jumping out of Oki's arms. Oki held her tight, but suffered several claws drawing blood along her neck. Naruto-sensei had trained Hitomi-chan well in handling humans; she must have been terrified to brandish her claws so carelessly.

"Okay, okay," Oki soothed, petting the girl's hair and trying to get her to calm down. "It's okay. We just want to help you. Why don't you want to go to Konoha?"

"I can't," Hitomi sobbed, "I c-can't get in. It won't let m-me! It did thi-this!"

She painfully tried to flex her injured hands

"What is 'it' Hitomi-chan?" Ringo pressed, trying to get her to give straight answer.

"The invisible thing—my daddy's in there and I c-can't see him because—because it hurts me!"

"Invisible thing...? There's a barrier?" Oki postulated. She knew Konoha had protective barriers or at least something that activated to motion or chakra, ways of detecting people coming and going. But there was nothing that could actively keep people out, not to her knowledge anyhow.

Toshi narrowed his eyes and walked forwards. He kept walking, passing several trees until he was forty feet away. He turned and said, "Where was the barrier Hitomi-chan?"

Hitomi sniffled, calmer now that she wasn't alone and with people who needed her dad just as much as she did. She looked at Toshi and frowned.

"It was closer," she said, a high-pitched whine resonated from her throat. "I don't think it hurts...humans."

Team five exchanged startled looks. Rarely did Hitomi vocally acknowledge that she was different to other people. It also raised several theories as to what was wrong with their sensei.

Ringo pounded the fist of one hand into the palm of his other.

"Alright. Oki, you stay with Hitomi, take her back to Juhi-obachan or something. Toshi and I'll go find sensei and figure out what the hell's going on."

"Got it," Oki nodded and maneuvered Hitomi so that she could ride piggyback. Fuzz-wad, who had been slinking in the background, scurried over to settle by Oki's legs. Oki nearly screamed at it before her living cargo sighed the fisher's name. If the beast's presence mattered so much to Hitomi, Oki would tolerate it.

"One or both of us will come back and let you know what's going on," Toshi called from his farther distance. "No more than three hours."

"Two," Oki bartered, after sending a concerned look at the subdued and dull-eyed girl loosely clinging to her back.

"Two," Toshi agreed on before he and Ringo departed.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"What do you mean _you don't know what's wrong with him_!?"

Moegi didn't back down from Sakura's overemotional, verbal attack. Everyone in that room—Tsunade, Shikamaru, Hinata, and herself—were in high distress. She could forgive Sakura for her aggression this _one_ time.

"The seal is intact," she insisted firmly. "It didn't _cause_ this. But, seeing as it's where Naruto's demonic chakra is concentrated, it's where this started. Whatever 'this' is."

"It simply leaves one more thing to cross out," Tsunade inferred. Sakura refused to look at her; the young woman kept her focus on Naruto with her mouth set in a straight line and a deep crease between her eyebrows.

Naruto was lain out on a hospital table, shirtless, ashen and static. His breathing was so shallow that he may not have been breathing at all. Anyone who walked into that room would have sworn he was dead, were it not for the machines hooked up to him, monitoring his vitals and proving _something_ was going on inside his body. His body wasn't pushing the needles out like usual and that in itself alarmed Tsunade.

She looked at the heart monitor and moaned, "His heart rate has now slowed to eight beats per minute—_eight_. This is beyond bradycardia."

Naruto already had a slow resting heart rate—as expected of any ninja in good condition—but to have a heart rate of eight beats per minute...hibernating bears were more active than this!

The elderly woman seemed at a loss. She and Sakura had been running chakra scans all over his body for the better part of an hour and so far only got mixed diagnoses. Everything within his body seemed to be moving at the pace of molasses, including whatever ailed him. They called in Hinata to see if there was anything to be seen, they called in Moegi to see if this was related to the seal. The answer was negative on both parts.

"Byakugan," Hinata said softly, activating her bloodline with the silent purpose of checking the rate of Naruto's chakra flow again.

She placed a hand on the cool skin of his stomach, the pads of her fingers just touching between two blackened distortions in a completely unnecessary action for someone who was only looking. Sakura nearly let loose a possessive snarl despite the situation and idly wondered if Naruto was starting to rub off on her.

The Hinata standing before her certainly bore no resemblance to the girl she graduated with at the academy. Sure, she still had the same blue-hued hair and pale eyes and unreasonable bust. But she'd grown colder—specifically to Naruto. Sakura didn't suspect hatred or any other ill-will, just resentment and disappointment and—buried yet enduring—longing.

Accepting her status and duty to her clan, Hinata had been placed in a political marriage, tearing apart her girlhood dreams of ever being with Naruto. On top of it all, Naruto hadn't turned out to be the charming boy-hero she'd always imagined. He was absorbed in more personal matters than those of the village—something he made known in the first couple of years after his return from Bassai and showed no remorse for it. He continually put off becoming Hokage. Even after all the promises he made, all the changes he assured would come to pass that people counted on, he continued to defer. He fell victim to his own rank as a Sage and had a difficult time detaching himself from it. He openly admitted he needed help, and he chose someone he was most familiar with to support him; he chose Sakura.

There was one thing Sakura and Hinata had in common; their childhood knights in shining armor didn't shine much at all in the end. Hinata must have seen too many flaws in the portrait she painted within her mind for so many years, because she began to build a front of disdain. It could have been a ploy to ease the pain of desertion—never having a chance for it to be called rejection—or to help with the loss of the perfect boy who had been replaced with an entirely different man. It may have even helped her accept the engagement to a distantly related branch member of the Hyuuga.

Whatever the reason, her cool attitude towards Naruto annoyed Sakura to no end, who personally saw Hinata's lack of relationship with Naruto as the woman's own doing. Maybe Naruto became the man he was today _because_ Hinata never had the courage to address him, a man she could no longer recognize. Life was funny like that.

Hinata slowly pulled away, dragging her finger off his body with, what Sakura viewed as, undue leisure.

"No difference," she said. "If anything it's slower."

Moegi startled, "Slower? Gods..."

"He's not just in a coma," Shikamaru breathed, shaking his head at what he was about to utter, "He's in some sort of...suspended animation..."

"Is it like last time...?" Sakura asked in little more than a whisper. "Is it nature...?"

He was cold, but not _that_ cold. Not yet.

"No," said Tsunade swiftly, "I don't know how this came about, but as for the damage, I have a solid theory. Whatever's happened to him has targeted his...youki, I believe he called it. And since that's interlaced with his chakra so finely...it's reacting negatively."

"Reacting negatively?" Moegi sounded skeptical. "I thought the youki's what gave him his fast healing?"

"I believe that's the problem," Tsunade said with increasing despair. The reality of the situation finally dawned on her as the pieces rapidly fell into place. "His youki _is_ trying to heal the damage...but the more it's active, the more it damages him...which calls for it to regenerate that damage and you start all over again. It's a cycle. A powerful cycle because—the idiot—he has too much chakra," a derisive chuckle shook her as tears sprung to her eyes. "I knew it...I _knew_ it. This isn't something he can physically blow through this time...his body is a weak shell that's trying to contain a volatile ocean of chakra. Son of a bitch."

The former Hokage almost never swore, but the dire conclusion was far more alarming for the crowd than her language.

"His body is overloaded with chakra that's trying to kill him," Sakura surmised, her voice sounded unnaturally high to her own ears, hollow and distant. The hand that gripped Naruto's cold, limp one quivered at the bleak future ahead of them.

"Then maybe it's a good thing his chakra's hardly moving," said Hinata softly but stony. "With the way it's interlaced with the demonic essence, he'd probably be dead at this point."

"Thank you, Hinata," Tsunade stressed the formality while placing a hand on Sakura's shoulder. She could practically hear the younger woman's teeth grinding. Even if Hinata didn't mean for it to sound so callous, her apprentice was overly sensitive at the moment.

"Perhaps that's why everything _has_ slowed down..." Moegi tried for her own theory. "No really, what if, somehow, his body or youki or whatever recognized what was happening and put him in this coma-thing to slow down the damage. What if it's a defense and it's actually _saving_ him for the time being?"

"It's a possibility," Shikamaru admitted slowly, now adding that theory into the ever-fluctuating equation. He found that if he treated the situation like another strategy problem and detach himself from emotional involvement he could think clearer. "Now that we've somewhat explained the decaying part, how do we explain how this happened in the first place?"

The room descended into a brief silence as each individual tried to work through the fog of unexplainable elements.

"It had to be something that triggered his youki into lashing out against him," Sakura said softly, absently stroking the back of Naruto's hand with her thumb. It unnerved her how she couldn't feel any life moving beneath his skin. "That's the root of this whole thing, isn't it? Something's aggravated it into attacking him..."

A dark shadow passed over Shikamaru's face that caused her to trail off.

"He didn't..." the man mumbled, "He _wouldn't_..."

"What?"

Shikamaru looked up from his brooding pose in the midst of his low musings, "You don't think...Kakashi wouldn't have...no, surely not without telling him..."

Tsunade immediately caught on, "But after that attack with the demon hitting so close to the village we only thought of the immediate danger. The fire daimyo was so insistent, as was the council and the general public. Even I—"

She broke off, bringing a hand to her mouth as she realized her own involvement in something that could be killing Naruto.

"We need to talk to Hokage-sama," Shikamaru issued over two girls' heads.

A clamor sounded from the outside hall; harsh voices, both male and female grew in volume as they approached. The double doors to the warded room banged open and two boys careened into the room, an exasperated nurse closely trailed them.

"Hey! What happened—Sensei!"

The pair of males stopped short as they stared, agape, at their teacher of two years in a death like state.

"Get back out here this instant!" the nurse snapped, storming up from behind. A few strands of dark brown hair fell from her cap. "You do not have authorization to be in here—!"

"What happened to Naruto-sensei?" Ringo demanded, pointedly ignoring the raging woman he and Toshi outmaneuvered.

"We're still figuring that out," Tsunade answered placidly while waving the nurse back outside, gesturing that the boys were allowed.

"His stomach," Toshi choked out once he approached. A light sheen of grey washed over his face and no one there could blame him; the atrophy gave for a nasty sight.

"Why is he like this?" Ringo asked, never losing the urgency in his voice.

"We don't have time for this," Shikamaru snapped. "We need to find out if the Hokage gave the go-ahead for the spiritual barrier or not. And if so, we need to get it down before it kills him—or at least get him out of Konoha."

"The spiritual barrier?" Sakura perked up. "The one that just about every country's investing in?"

She finally understood what Shikamaru and Tsunade-sama were speaking of earlier, and if Hinata and Moegi's faces of dawning comprehension were anything to go by, so did they.

"So there _is_ a barrier!" Toshi gasped. "Tomi-chan...We found her in the forest and she was hurt. She said she couldn't get into Konoha."

"But _we_ could," Ringo added.

"Hitomi?" Tsunade asked sharply, latching on to the mention of her granddaughter.

"Is she okay?" Sakura followed with just as much edge.

"She's fine. Oki has her in Bassai," said Toshi. He couldn't seem to draw his eyes away from horrifying and fascinating sight of the concave corrosion eating away at his sensei.

Shikamaru's present frown deepened at the new information the boys brought.

"Then how did Naruto cross it in the first place? Was it incomplete at the time he entered Konoha?"

"If that's the case then we can't get Naruto out, can we?" Hinata asked, her thin eyebrows drawn downward.

The pair of chuunin could only stare at the adults in the room, losing heart. Shikamaru couldn't take the mental block he was suffering.

"Ugh, we need more information—we need to know if and_ when_ this thing supposedly was set up, as well as how long Naruto has been back. We need to talk to Kakashi," the man said for the third time. "Now."

The time for deduction had ended; they had expended all the information they knew. They needed to act.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Kakashi felt at an age far beyond his years. As if the worry and stress weren't enough anymore, now he had guilt, regret, and unbridled self-loathing added to the mix.

He rubbed a hand down his face, mindful not to let it catch on his mask.

"Keh, some genius I turned out to be," he muttered contemptuously. Oh, how he wanted to give into his selfish need to mope.

"No one could have seen this outcome," Tsunade paused at her successor's wooden stare. "All right, in some ways, it was obvious, but it's hard to remember that Naruto has physical weaknesses with the way he carries on. No one else brought him up when we decided to follow suit and ask for a barrier, so you can't be expected to catch every angle—that's why you have a council."

"And it took him out so easily," Kakashi stated softly, referring to the swiftness in which his body reacted to being contained in a spiritual repository. Truthfully, Kakashi _had_ thought of what would happen to Naruto had they given in to The Movement. He simply assumed Naruto wouldn't be able to pass through the barrier; that it wouldn't matter which side he was on. Hearing that the Raikage was thinking of doing the same only strengthened this presumption because surely the man wouldn't knowingly endanger his own brother.

It was his own fault for following assumptions without bothering to find solid facts. Honestly, how hard would it have been to just ask Naruto? Erecting barriers had been going on for weeks and never once had the thought occurred to him.

Tsunade inhaled heavily through her nose and released a sigh with which she tried to expel her worries and burdens.

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall. This had to be a worst case scenario for him—to turn his own chakra on him like that, effectively making his greatest strength his weakness—," Tsunade forced herself to stop talking at Kakashi's haggard look. She knew this costly mistake ate him up inside.

The Fire Temple had been alerted as soon as Shikamaru presented the problem to Kakashi. The two intelligent men wrangled with their theories and they combined what they knew. They concluded that, yes, the spiritual barrier must have had an adverse affect on demons trapped within it and that Naruto suffered the effects of one. They hypothesized that the barrier strengthened over time, it being the only explanation for Naruto's ability to enter when Hitomi could not later on. Kakashi recalled that Naruto looked bad as soon as he returned from his mission, and Sakura and Shikamaru confirmed that it progressively got worse.

Fortunately, the seven monks that spent hours setting up the barrier were still in the immediate area, having only just erected it earlier that morning, and responded to the recall quickly. They immediately set to deconstruction, seeming impassive to the reason why as long as they would be compensated for it.

They assured the process would take nearly as long as it took to put it up, so Hinata and Moegi were dismissed and ordered to disclose nothing for the time being. Shikamaru claimed he wanted to find out more about spiritual barriers and the various reactions to them and headed off to the library. Sakura might have had the same inclination, but instead chose to head for Bassai to act as both a guard and a comfort for the poor little girl who could not comprehend why her father couldn't be with her.

Kakashi and Tsunade were the only two who stayed in the office, turning over explanations to the country's government. Tsunade would have been in the hospital, monitoring any change over her charge as the barrier lifted, but first wanted to make sure Kakashi didn't beat himself up too hard. He wasn't the only one who could take blame.

"I don't know how I'll make this up to him," Kakashi griped. "What if the damage is permanent? We don't know how his body will react to recovering from...spiritual overdose...or whatever it's called."

The final act of propriety left him as Kakashi allowed his head to fall on the desk with a dull thud. Everything was so suspicious—the attacks, the barrier, Naruto's "episode". Something wasn't right but he couldn't do anything about it because their best source to Akatsuki's movements was currently frozen in time.

Tsunade managed a half-smile.

"We'll call in the monks after they're done and get a better diagnosis. I'm sure they'll understand everything that happened better than anybody."

Kakashi picked up his head just as the door received two sharp knocks before opening without waiting for approval. Very few people had the gall to do that.

"Hokage-sama!" It was a doctor—Ryota—if Kakashi remembered correctly, a talented middle-aged man who often took over Sakura's duties when she was absent, such as this moment.

"What is it?" Kakashi asked, sitting up straighter. Tension and grief rolled off the man in thick waves that aggravated Kakashi's heightened senses into nearly gagging.

"It's Naruto-sama!" Ryota cried. "He's dead!"

The following silence rung so loudly one could hear a pin drop in the Hokage's office, even without ninja training.

Three adults stared at one another with bated breaths. Ryota stood nervously by the door, still unable to believe that he had checked up on the village's most powerful ninja only to find him stiff and the machines reading flat. The Hokage and the hospital administrator stared back him with bloodless, disbelieving faces.

"H-how—you're sure...?" Tsunade uttered, sounding strangled.

"Heart's completely stopped," Ryota recited professionally. He tried to make his voice sound even, despite his own overactive organ. "No chakra movement; he's already entered rigor mortis."

Kakashi stood from his chair so swiftly that Ryota took a step backward; a dark and severe shadow passed over the man's face (or what could be seen of it). Ryota was one of the many who were skeptical about allowing young Hatake Kakashi to take over the position of Hokage, but at this very moment he could see why Kakashi-sama was considered a most formidable and powerful ninja.

Ryota waited as the Hokage paused at his desk, thinking the man was going to say something. Then, without any warning, Kakashi-sama flickered away. In the next second, Tsunade-sama followed, leaving the bearer of bad news standing in the empty, circular office.

Two miles away, in a warded hospital room, two imposing figures materialized on either side of a flat, sheeted table, the body atop of it clearly devoid of life.

"Naruto—" Kakashi managed with a hard swallow. He stumbled forward, the grace of a village leader zapped away in his grief.

He needed to see it for himself, and now he wished he had stayed the compulsion.

Naruto's body was cold and stiff, his hair limp and grayed, his eyes deep-set and his cheeks hollow to give the appearance of a skull. No trace of chakra movements could be detected, no air escaped those partially parted lips. He was unmistakably and thoroughly dead.

Kakashi felt dizzy—surreal—like this was some bad dream, a prank, something completely impossible. Who was going to tell Sakura? Tell Hitomi? Tell the village? He'd have to take complete responsibility, of course. This was his doing. To think that Naruto, unrelenting and infallible Naruto, could go down so quickly. There was no way to stop it—prevent, yes—but once this got going, once his own chakra turned atrophic, it became game-set-match.

Contrary to Kakashi's near breakdown, Tsunade came across as completely reserved. The woman walked closer to the waxy form of her beloved Naruto with far more calm than her companion. She passed a hand from his temple to his navel, not quite touching the skin.

Fair eyebrows rose toward her hairline and she slid her hand back by her side.

"He's dead all right," she said, steely. Kakashi blanched, wondering how she could act so cold when stating such a fact. Before he could say anything, she continued, "There's just one problem."

"And what's that?" Kakashi couldn't keep the annoyance from his voice, not when she seemed so blasé about Naruto—their Naruto—being _dead_.

"This isn't Naruto."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Danzo hadn't felt this happy since Tsunade had that stroke.

Of course, that happiness was fleeting; Kakashi took the briefly available post and Danzo once again found himself thwarted from his self-appointed mission. But now, after years of planning, molding and connecting, the pieces had fallen together in a perfect fit. Everyone played their part correctly, the demons, Ren, the temples, _the_ _world_. Even Konoha followed script, unknowing but flawless.

A beautiful performance…

He breathed a sigh of contentment, running a free eye over the helpless form of his most despised antagonist. Though they were no longer in Konoha, the Fire Temple had more than enough spiritual wards to keep the Jinchuuriki from being remotely threatening.

"I don't want him purified," said the Konoha nuke-nin to the monk beside him, "just in the process of it. Keep him down until we come for him. We still need the eight-tails."

Sentoki nodded once and directed a sneer at the body displayed on a stone alter. To think he once admired this...this beast.

When he first heard of the veteran Danzo being ousted from his village by the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, Sentoki believed what everyone else believed—that Danzo deserved it; that he had been planning to usurp the position of Hokage. He believed that Uzumaki Naruto was a hero.

Sentoki nearly turned away the elder man when he staggered into the temple several days later, but his position as a priest called for him to be unbiased. So, he listened with a patient ear to Danzo-sama confessing his sins. He granted the senior sympathy as he heard of his struggles to ameliorate Konoha, of his desire to attain piece through an iron fist. Danzo-sama explained how there'd be fewer casualties the faster a war ended, rather than dragging out negotiations that would never amount to anything in the long run—that sort of wishful thinking only allowed the body count to pile high.

Danzo-sama supported life, he supported humanity, but no one would think to hear him out the minute he proposed anything remotely "barbaric". No one understood the sacrifices needed for the greater good.

In repentant, melancholy words, Danzo-sama described the instability of a Jinchuuriki. He recalled how he pushed for a closer restriction on the Kyuubi, a better program to mold him into a loyal, protective weapon. It was the best life possible, after all. He would have been cared for, watched, given a real reason to defend Konoha.

Once again, Danzo-sama was spurned. Apparently, the boy had been thrown into the village with no stable guardian and no aide; only increasing incentives to embrace the demon and turn on humanity.

Danzo-sama wanted to save the boy from such torment; he wanted to prevent the same fate of every other Jinchuuriki—humans who had gone mad with the power of a demon corroding their minds.

Sentoki was no stranger to the derangement of these human sacrifices. He had heard accounts from the priests of Suna of the Ichibi's blood lust—how it went about murdering on a whim, unrestrained for years before worming itself into a position of political power. Sentoki was no fool; one did not go from relishing in human blood to village protector overnight. The demon simply changed its strategy.

It was no secret the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki aimed to take reign over Konoha one day. At one point, the Mizukage was a Jinchuuriki before he was slain, rumored as by the leader of the Akatsuki. The Ichibi managed to hold the title of Kazekage for a brief stint before the Akatsuki had expelled it from its host. The Hachibi was brother to the current Raikage and could easily overpower the man into taking over; few would question the exchange of rule. When holding these facts together, Sentoki realized these weapons powered by demons were slowly migrating to positions of leadership.

He thought it strange that only _after_ Master Chiriku was slain along with many of their number, only _after_ the destruction of a Temple that he'd called home his whole life, did the Jinchuuriki and its associates take out the assailants from Akatsuki. He hadn't wanted to acknowledge such an unsavory angle at the time, but the greatest and closest threat to Konoha's Jinchuuriki had been conveniently dismantled that day.

He now knew he should have never discounted such inklings.

His fears were proven correct when Danzo-sama explained how it was the two remaining Jinchuuriki who released the bijuu from their confinement, not the Akatsuki. The Jinchuuriki were enabling the creation of even more sacrifices and according to Danzo-sama it was only through his and Akatsuki's discrete efforts that kept any such thing from happening so far.

The Jinchuuriki simultaneously becoming Kage for every major village was a most troubling prospect for the Temples to imagine. Then Kyuubi container—possibly the only Jinchuuriki known to have spawned—having a daughter came to light and they truly feared, for she was not human. The demons could take over the bodies of the humans they were trapped inside of and could procreate, passing down and spreading their demonic genes.

The Jinchuuriki were trying to start an uprising: to replace humanity with demons. Danzo-sama assured Sentoki that he only saddled up with the Akatsuki with the intent to stop this. Slowly, Temples all around the world began to grow in accordance with Danzo-sama's mission as the incriminating evidence burgeoned.

The Fire Temple was now rebuilt, better than before with the modifications Danzo-sama suggested. They had a fresh batch of monks-in-training, ripe for the molding, with the eldest being Zenza, Sentoki's apprentice and one of the only monks left who witnessed the destruction wrought by the undead duo years ago. The army of young, able-bodied monks supported him wholly, and he supported Danzo-sama, along with a network of similar practices across the world. If they worked together they could stop this. They could save mankind.

As long as Sentoki was head priest of the Fire Temple, he would do his duty to keep the world free from demonic influence.

"You are doing the right thing," Danzo assured the young priest, taking his bout of silence as uncertainty. His silver tongue and cunning had gotten him this far—they were at the apex of their plans—he wouldn't allow one man's misgivings foil this.

"I know," said Sentoki as he fixed his eyes on the stationary body which harbored the most feared beast to grace their world. "Believe me, I know."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Hm, bit of a late update, huh? Well, school's reached an all time evil. I've been trying to prepare like crazy for the five tests I have this week.

I have FOUR classes. How does that happen!?

I gave a little insight on Naruto and Sakura's relationship. Is it perfect? Hell no. Anything less than strained during a time when Naruto is hardly home would be a fairytale. And I'm sick of reading fairytales. Sakura is selfish, Naruto (believe it or not) is selfish, Hinata is selfish...and no she's not heinous bitch/jealous/evil...just coping. It's simply human nature, these are not necessarily negative qualities.

A lot of speculating is done by characters trying to figure out what's going on, but that doesn't necessarily mean their right. Bear that in mind.

Let's all thank **DarkHeroOrion** for looking over this and doing some crazy comma remodeling. Just another thing I never paid attention too in elementary school (yes, I am working with what I remember from the second grade...oh Mrs. Cormack, how I misses you T_T)

And once again, thank you for your reviews! They make me so happy in these dark times of WTF-tests, as I like to call them.

**Next chap**: Immobile doesn't mean unconscious


	30. Mind Over Matter

The next couple of chapters could get a bit confusing so try to use your brains.

_This is Naruto speak_

**Chapter 30**

Pain.

He was in _so_ much pain.

Naruto remembered trying to stop the blood from pouring out of his stomach in slow, jerky movements with all his motions feeling foreign to him. He didn't understand what was happening and his body moved so sluggishly that his mind became annoyed. His memory would only record the jumbled mass of confusion and fear that swarmed his senses and the sharp, thrumming _pain_ that wracked his body.

And then he was falling—he couldn't see, his eyes wouldn't open—but he felt himself hit the ground, landing hard on his cheekbone and forearms, and he felt the wet heat of his blood on his stomach, slick and sticky.

Disoriented from the fall, Naruto had to spend a moment trying to discern if he had passed out and it was now night or if his power cut for some reason. It took several more moments for him to register that the darkness that bound him was due to his eyes being closed.

They were closed and he couldn't open them.

He couldn't move; not a finger would respond to the commands his mind sent throughout his body. But he could feel—oh yes, he could feel. From the sharp, fiery stab that spread from his gut, running along the networks of his energy, to the cool linoleum pressed against his sore cheek. He felt it all.

But even in his rising panic his heart refused to beat faster. If anything it further slowed.

His mind continued to race, seemingly unaffected by this strange ailment that forced his body to betray him. How did he end up like this? He recalled the unease that struck as he approached Konoha. He remembered feeling sick and dizzy as he pressed forward through the village, his senses clouding, suffocating him. He'd never experienced anything quite like this before.

Without vision to aid in marking the lengthening shadows in his kitchen, Naruto had no way of telling how long he lay there. He could have counted the ticks on the clock (and how he _hated_ that clock now), but each second sent a dream-like echo reverberating in his mind that only served to make him question his own sanity. Irritatingly enough, the more he tried to ignore it, the more it stood out.

_This could be a genjutsu,_ he thought wildly before reason returned to him. No, the pain he felt tearing through his tissues was far too real to be a trick of the mind.

Conversely, the very same pain functioned as an anchor to reality. He was terrified, confused and in agony, but he was still alive. His mind still operated.

Distantly, he heard a door open, and muffled voices floated into his apartment. His senses were dampened and he couldn't hear well, until one appeared just over him.

"Sakura! Oh gods—Sakura! Get in here!"

_Shikamaru?_ Naruto questioned in his mind before the mentioned name connected. _Sakura! Yes! Shikamaru and Sakura! The two smartest people in Konoha just happen upon me. Thank you!_

Vibrations strummed against his skin as his girlfriend travelled to the kitchen.

"Naruto!"

"What...What..."

Be it the pain or the helplessness of his situation, Naruto felt his annoyance at Shikamaru's scared murmurs drown his initial relief. _Yeah! _'What, what_' you useless idiot! I thought you're supposed to be a genius! You tell me 'what'!_

The unbearable torment in his abdomen subsided to endurable levels and Naruto knew from the familiar feel of the energy that Sakura was trying to heal him over his seal. It was a testament to her ability as a medic that she could pin-point the source of the problem so quickly.

"He's not bleeding anymore…"

Sakura's voice was just over his face, her breath lapping over his skin with a strange analgesic affect. Dizzy from the whole ordeal, Naruto mindlessly wondered if she had healing powers in her mouth as well.

Then her words hit him. It was good to know his body was at least healing, despite the obvious sensations that said otherwise.

"He's healed already?"

"It's not clotted...His blood just isn't moving."

There was silence and then,

"You mean he's—"

"No!"

_NO!_ Naruto thought at the same time. _Goddamn it, you idiot, can't you sense my life energy at all? For fuck's sake—even the class _genius_ can't sense auras...When I become Hokage, I'm going to make so many changes to the academy curriculum. God forbid I end up cremated because of incompetence..._

He felt Sakura's soothing hand leave his stomach and the pain returned tenfold. He wished he had the ability to move his face, to grimace, to wince, to give any outward reaction, anything to show _he wanted her hand back_. That and there was something psychologically satisfying about expressing one's pain that helped bear it.

As though the feeling of having dried blood and fabric peeled from his sensitive skin wasn't bad enough, the squelching sound that accompanied it made the whole experience nearly unbearable. His imagination worked overtime, filling his mind's eye of visions that matched his pain. He could be bleeding from every pore in his body, like when he went four-tails, he could be spontaneously combusting—because he'd _never_ felt a burning sensation quite as deep-seated as this before, one that he felt in his very bones—

"He's...he's decaying..."

Not only was Sakura silent after Shikamaru's observation, but Naruto's busybody thoughts stopped dead as well.

Without an internal dialogue to keep him distracted, the pain lacing his veins screamed to attention—enough to shock his mind back into activity.

_I'm hallucinating,_ Naruto tried to assure himself, half-delirious with the inexplicable situation he found himself in._ Schizophrenia. That's it. Because Shikamaru did not just say that..._

_But shit...it certainly _feels_ like it..._

Is that what was happening to him? He couldn't see himself, so he only had what he could hear, smell and feel to figure out what was going on. What could cause this? What could possibly hurt him enough to cause _his_ body—his indestructible body, as conceited as that may sound—to decay?

Naruto focused all his energy on trying to figure out this puzzle, using mental exercises to block out the pain as best he could.

It obviously started when he came into Konoha. He felt sick, as he recalled, and dizzy—it hit him in a sudden wave as he approached the walls. And there was a sense foreboding as he drew near...

It couldn't have been anything he ate—he'd know if he was poisoned and he'd metabolize it quickly enough—and he wasn't struck by any special weapon. No...all the symptoms definitely started as he entered Konoha, and progressively got worse as he spent time here.

Naruto focused on what those symptoms were. _My body burns...I've never felt anything like this before...It's like it's coming from my own blood. No...not my blood...my chakra...my...my youki...?_

He tried to zero in on the networks of his body, but everything moved so slowly that he found it difficult to get a decent reading.

I just know _my youki is reacting to something...but the only thing that could stir up my youki would be..._

_FUCK!_

The swear rang clear in his mind and suddenly he found he could no longer distract himself from the agonizing paroxysm assaulting his body—not now when he knew what was happening. _I'm being purified! Fuck! Fuck! Someone get me the fuck out of this village before I die!_

And dying he was. That chilling burn was his own chakra being "cleansed". He knew this because the Kyuubi explained it to him when it could still be considered a separate, conscious being.

_That fucker!_ Naruto swore viciously once he realized the most logical set of conditions that would lead to his condition, _I saw him and he said nothing! I was right there and he let me go! Off on my merry way deeper into my cage of death—_

_Oh God, Hitomi!_

A new panic seized him. She would be affected, too! And, being born the way she was, it could kill her faster! She was so young, she couldn't survive on her own no matter how physically capable she was for her age, she—

_She's in Bassai! Bassai! She's safe!_

It was so strange to be brought to so close to hysteria and yet feel nothing of the thrill. No heavy breathing, no racing heart.

Nevertheless, Naruto continued to try and soothe himself.

_And even if she approached, she wouldn't enter Konoha,_ came his self-assurance,_ She's a smart girl, and she knows how to listen to her instincts. Everything about this village screams "death" to a demon._

_...Humph, shows how retarded _my_ instincts are..._

_Human hearts will push through logic, _a traitorous second opinion popped up. _She's human, too._

_Shut up, brain. No one asked you._

A new sensation alerted him to being lifted; an arm around his shoulders, another under his legs.

_Probably doesn't want anything to touch my stomach,_ Naruto struck cynically. _It's gotta look nasty if I'm _decaying_._

As ridiculous as it may have looked to be carried bridal style, the blond couldn't help but jeer at the difficulty Shikamaru would have—he knew he was much heavier than the man, at least thirty more pounds of muscle, and Shikamaru was a tactician more than a fighter. Naruto viciously hoped that Shikamaru would struggle for even suggesting he was dead.

He was being purified in his own village. He had a right to hate _everyone_ at the moment.

Now, they were moving. The noises began to change, the wind picked up, and they journeyed faster—over the buildings judging by the hum of activity far below.

But the pain, if anything, intensified. Naruto found difficulty in focusing on his surroundings; the noises were starting to fade, and everything became muted.

_I'm...losing my senses,_ Naruto thought despairingly. The words came slow to his mind; with nothing external to occupy his mind, he only sensed the magnified attack on his body—his very life energy that tore him apart from the inside out. Even the feel of his skin escaped him, just the blistering, bone-chilling, savage torment that bubbled through the fibers of his being. If this continued long enough he feared his mind may actually snap.

Suddenly cut off from his link to the outside world, Naruto had no concept of time. When someone was in pain, every second equaled eternity and having nothing to serve as a distraction only worsened the experience.

Then a soothing touch spread from his belly again and slowly words began to make sense once more.

"Hinata...take a look...see if..."

"It's...white spots all along...not malignant..."

"...I think we should..."

"Then get Moegi," Tsunade's voice rung clear and Naruto's hearing returned full throttle. The pain muffled; Tsunade held whatever it was at bay and his senses took that opportunity to sharpen. Scent told him he was in the hospital and only his lack of facial control kept him from sneering.

He did not want to be in a hospital because the hospital was in Konoha. He felt even more unreasonable anger at them for not knowing how badly he needed to get out.

He could tell Shikamaru was there, as were Sakura and Tsunade. Hinata was there as well and Naruto wasn't sure how he felt about her in the room with his prone body. Despite her misplaced vexation with him, he still liked to poke fun at her ability to see through his clothes.

Normally he'd be able to sense the few ANBU that tailed Tsunade, but whatever respite Tsunade's healing chakra allowed his body only gave his senses a short range of recovery.

"What's happened to him?"

And now Moegi had arrived, no doubt summoned by an ANBU guard.

"We're trying to figure that out. There's something eating away at his body and it's stemming from his seal."

Nothing more needed to be said. Three quick steps forward and Naruto felt the warm pads of Moegi's fingers gently prodding the dark spiral.

_MOTHERFUCKER!_ He screamed in his mind as a sensation unlike any other pulsed through him, _DON'T TOUCH THAT! Fuck! stopstopstopstopstopstop!_

"The seal's fine, completely in tact," Moegi announced, ignorant to the mental dialogue she induced. "The flow of demonic chakra is stable. I don't know what's wrong with him."

_Moegi, I'm going to punch you in the fucking ovaries when this is over,_ Naruto snarled. Naruto prided himself as someone with a high pain tolerance, but nothing in his memory came remotely close to the savage fire that sundered through his stomach muscles at the direct contact—like a jagged blade meticulously shearing the fibers of his muscles piece by piece, all I the span of seconds. Even with the fingers now removed, the lingering influence of her touch continued to harrow his body and he was surprised he wasn't convulsing. Tsunade's healing chakra took its sweet time numbing _that_.

"What do you mean _you don't know what's wrong with him_!?"

_I think she meant 'she doesn't know what's wrong with me', _Naruto grunted as he gathered his bearings._ You can't judge, sweetheart; you're just as useless._

"The seal is intact. It didn't _cause_ this. But, seeing as it's where Naruto's demonic chakra is concentrated, it's where this started. Whatever 'this' is."

Naruto thought Moegi sounded like she was restraining herself from letting a few choice words of her own fly.

Tsunade spoke next.

"It simply leaves one more thing to cross out. His heart rate has now slowed to eight beats per minute—_eight_. This is beyond bradycardia."

_Big words aside, that concerns me._

Naruto tried to focus on his heartbeat to find any truth to this statement. After fifteen seconds of hearing nothing he became rather bored. It could very well be that Tsunade was mistaken and he simply wasn't able to hear his own heartbeat in such a state. Just as he tried to write it off as temporary deafness, a soft bump resounded from his chest cavity.

_Heart!_

A second bump followed, and Naruto became far too excited, thinking his heart was picking up the pace, that Tsunade was wrong...

Then he waited another ten seconds listening to silence.

A soft murmur of "Byakugan" drew Naruto from his disturbing game and he knew Hinata could now look at his body in far too much detail. Not that he could do much at this point.

He used to feel bad about not acknowledging her sooner; she seemed to put so much effort into getting to know him without actually getting to know him. Oftentimes, when he was younger, he got the sense that someone was watching him, but that served as the extent of their interaction for much of their relationship. She really just creeped him out as she watched him from the shadows with her freaky eyes.

He knew she harbored some sort of expectations of him, and in another life he may have done his best to fulfill them, especially when he was so desperate for companionship. Unfortunately for her, he found all the companionship he needed with his daughter...and Sakura, to an extent. Really, what did she expect from him now? He didn't go after married women!

Almost as though she could hear his thoughts, the sinister woman touched the very same spot Moegi had.

Naruto desperately wanted the ability to roll off the bed, if only to get away from these tormentors.

_Arrgh! What the FUCK, Hinata?! No touching!_

He wasn't used to holding such aggressive feelings toward others. But, dammit, he hurt so badly! He could feel the slow, white-hot burn that ate away at him like a million tiny mites. He could actually feel the spiritual energies crawling all over his skin; he felt disgusting to be tainted by something so pure.

There was a time when that thought would have concerned him.

_I'll be disfigured for life,_ he thought despairingly, now wondering what his stomach could look like if it reacted to touch that way. Shikamaru had already alluded to him decaying....

While not exactly vain, it still upset Naruto to think about his body—one that he put effort into maintaining his whole life—wasting away in a most grotesque fashion.

He liked to run around half-naked! He'd never been physically self-conscious before...

"No difference," Hinata spoke. "If anything it's slower."

"Slower? Gods..."

Moegi sounded far more upset that Hinata did. Then again, Hinata was an heiress that had been trained to conceal her emotions from birth—training that only took any real effect after she resigned herself to an arranged marriage and stepped up to the role she had been born into. Really, Hiashi should be thanking him for ignoring her.

"He's not just in a coma...he's in some sort of...suspended animation..."

_Suspended animation? _Naruto thought wryly. _Am I being freeze-dried Shikamaru? Is that what's happening?_

"Is it like last time...? Is it nature...?"

_No, Sakura_, Naruto mentally sighed with irritation. _This is about as unnatural as things get_.

"No," Tsunade unknowingly voiced Naruto's thoughts, "I don't know how this came about, but as for the damage, I have a solid theory. Whatever's happened to him has targeted his...youki, I believe he called it. And since that's interlaced with his chakra so finely...it's reacting negatively."

_Winner! _Naruto called, ecstatic that they were finally getting somewhere. _And now you have to admit that youki exists. Admit it, infidel, admit it._

"Reacting negatively? I thought the youki's what gave him his fast healing?"

"I believe that's the problem, His youki _is_ trying to heal the damage...but the more it's active, the more it damages him...which calls for it to regenerate that damage and you start all over again. It's a cycle. A powerful cycle because—the idiot—he has too much chakra. I knew it...I _knew_ it. This isn't something he can physically blow through this time...his body is a weak shell that's trying to contain a volatile ocean of chakra. Son of a bitch."

_Damn, she's good_, Naruto whistled. _Unfairly insulting of the victim, but good. I think she needs to step back up as Hokage. Who cares if she's old and apparently prone to strokes? At least she wouldn't NEGLECT THE VILLAGE WEAPON! Fucking Kakashi...I'm gonna ream him so fucking hard when this is over._

"His body is overloaded with chakra that's trying to kill him..."

"Then maybe it's a good thing his chakra's hardly moving. With the way it's interlaced with the demonic essence, he'd probably be dead at this point."

_Ha!_ Naruto only found amusement in Hinata's theory._ I'd rather be dead than stuck in this purgatory. Stupid, useless body..._

"Thank you, Hinata."

"Perhaps that's why everything _has_ slowed down...No really, what if, somehow, his body or youki or whatever recognized what was happening and put him in this coma-thing to slow down the damage. What if it's a defense and it's actually _saving_ him for the time being?"

Naruto considered the possibility but forth by Moegi.

Maybe this whole freeze-dry thing _was_ a defense mechanism? Maybe it was giving him time to get out of the village?

In that case it was counter productive. Freeze-dried goods can't move anywhere.

"It's a possibility," Naruto thought Shikamaru sounded like he didn't believe it. "Now that we've somewhat explained the decaying part, how do we explain how this happened in the first place?"

_Conspiracy! Just write it off as conspiracy and get me out of here already! Though...what if that's true? Maybe this wasn't some avoidable accident…_

"It had to be something that triggered his youki into lashing out against him. That's the root of this whole thing, isn't it? Something's aggravated it into attacking him..."

_Yes, yes, yes._

"He didn't...He _wouldn't_..."

Shikamaru appeared to have caught on.

_Yes, he would, and yes, he did._

"What?"

"You don't think...Kakashi wouldn't have...no, surely not without telling him..."

_Nope, the bastard saw me. He had the chance, and he let it pass. Now there's blood all over my kitchen. Aaaand I'm dying._

"But after that attack with the demon hitting so close to the village, we only thought of the immediate danger. The fire daimyo was so insistent, as was our council and the general public. Even I—"

Naruto would have gasped if he could have. _Tsunade! You vapid, old bitch. You're the second person I'm punching in the ovaries._

"We need to talk to Hokage-sama."

_Do what you must. Slap him in the face for me, since I obviously can't. And then __**get-me-out-of-here!**_

Instead of progressing any course of action, a flurry of noise and movements erupted in the enclosed hospital room, starting with the unmistakable bang of kicked-open doors.

"Hey! What happened—Sensei!"

"Get back out here this instant! You do not have authorization to be in here—!"

"What happened to Naruto-sensei?!"

"We're still figuring that out—"

"His stomach—!"

"Why is he like this?!"

Naruto would have smashed his head on something as two of his genin halted any productivity—had he been able to move and willing to increase his pain-load.

_Boys, I love you. But you have the worst timing._

"We don't have time for this! We need to find out if the Hokage gave the go-ahead for the spiritual barrier or not. And if so, we need to get it down before it kills him—or at least get him out of Konoha."

_Thank you, voice of reason_, Naruto commended Shikamaru_. I now forgive you for accusing me of being dead._

"The one that just about every country's investing in? The spiritual barrier?"

_Wait...really, Sakura? You're just picking up on this now?_

"So there _is_ a barrier! Tomi-chan...We found her in the forest and she was hurt. She said she couldn't get into Konoha."

"But _we_ could."

_WHAT?! AND YOU JUST FUCKING LEFT HER THERE?! _Naruto redoubled his efforts to move—a nose-flare, a toe-twitch, _anything_.

Fortunately, he wasn't the only one exhibiting concern.

"Hitomi?" "Is she okay?"

"She's fine. Oki has her in Bassai."

Naruto felt such alleviation at Toshi's words that he nearly passed out. Had he been physically able to, that is.

...Or could he?

"Then how did Naruto cross it in the first place? Was it incomplete at the time he entered Konoha?"

Naruto pretended his eyes grew wide, because that's exactly what they should have been doing.

_Holy crap! I was _let_ in! It is a conspiracy! This is Akatsuki! I knew it! I knew they were up to something. It's _irritating_ how impressed I am right now...I mean, look at the position they've got me in..._

_Shit...then what are they expecting us to do now? They've got me down, I'm completely defenseless...are they going to attack Konoha now that I can't defend it? Damn it all, I've got to get out of here...I can't stand this anymore...to be in this condition knowing I'm playing right into a trap._

"If that's the case then we can't get Naruto out, can we?"

_Yes, you can. And you will. Of all the things to kill me it is _not_ going to be purification. I'd be the laughing stock of Hell. Kyuubi would never forgive me._

"Ugh, we need more information—we need to know if andwhen this thing supposedly was set up, as well as how long Naruto has been back. We need to talk to Kakashi."

_We need to get Naruto out of here. Come on. Say it._

"Yes, yes, you're right..." Tsunade sounded a bit distracted; Naruto could picture her biting her lip. "Hinata, Moegi, you two are dismissed. I trust I don't need to remind you not to breathe a word of this to anyone.

"Boys, return to Bassai, inform your teammate of the situation, and stay with Hitomi. We'll have someone check in with you soon enough."

_Still got that Hokage-boss thing going on there, Grandma. Really, you should think about stepping back up._

"Shikamaru, Sakura, the two of you come with me."

"But what about—!"

"We have ANBU stationed all around this room Sakura, you know that."

"Yes, yes...all right, let's go."

_Wait...what about the orders to take Naruto outside of the barrier? This is common sense, people! Don't ask for permission! Hey! Get back here! All I need is one minute! Just one minute outside—_

As soon as Tsunade exited the room in a clean Shunshin, a tsunami of pain slammed into Naruto. Once more, his senses fled him and he became encased within his ruined body.

_Ack! Ugh—oh shit! Shit, Tsunade, please come back...I'm sorry I called you a vapid, old bitch...I'll leave your ovaries alone, I promise—even though they won't do you much good—being old and all. And vapid, for leaving me here like some dumb blond... No! I'm sorry! I'll punch Hinata's, instead. Please just come back! I'll even become Hokage!_

He should have recorded what he was thinking; it could have been entertaining for a time when he was in decidedly less pain. But thinking something was his desperate way of distracting himself. All the same, it was futile, fruitless, and wasteful, even.

He was wasting brain-thoughts. But, what would he be saving them for in the first place?

_I'm going to go crazy. That's it. By the time they figure shit out, I'll have snapped. It's just me and the spiritual chakra _eatingme_ and that nasty, oily smell—_

Smell. He could smell again!

His torturous prison let up once more as his senses trickled back to him. The pain lessened enough for coherent thought and Naruto scrambled to figure out what was going on by straining his ears. Light footsteps padded closer, the scent of blood and antiseptics escalated.

How much time had passed? Were they back?

He knew someone was in the room, but it wasn't Tsunade. There was no healing chakra counteracting the damage his youki was inflicting.

No...the spiritual barrier was lifting. But it was slow...far too slow for him to recover any movement.

"We meet again...Naruto-kun."

Naruto would have shuddered if he could. He knew that voice, still smug and full of false geniality, and with the voice came a label for the scent—something he hadn't come into contact with for several years.

"And in such fortunate circumstances..." that voice sounded giddy, supported by a natural curiosity that came with his profession.

Something pressed into Naruto's stomach and the man's mind nearly cracked right there.

_Aaaaahhhggg-GAH! Fuck just stop! Please! Stop!_

Eventually the hand did let up, replaced by a delighted and taunting chuckle that Naruto hadn't yet the wits to respond to.

When he did gather his bearings, and could tolerate the pain enough to think, he realized he was being moved again. Only this time he knew it wasn't by the hands of an ally.

_Konoha...we really have to do something about your hospital security, _Naruto thought before something was slammed into the front of his neck and his mind shut down.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Tsunade stared blankly at her own wavering reflection, the identical face staring back at her distorted by the rivulet of rain that rolled down the glass and the harsh lighting behind her.

She let loose a morose sigh that she could no longer keep bottled within her chest.

"We'll find him," Kakashi whispered over his shoulder. He found difficulty in meeting anyone's eyes as of late; the shame and guilt weighed on his conscience whether the accusing stares were there or not. No one felt more responsible than the man who allowed the barrier to be put up in the first place. As soon as Naruto vanished from Konoha, Kakashi knew they had been set up. He acquiesced to its assembly when Akatsuki wanted him to and had taken it down at their subtle direction—and it _was_ Akatsuki; there was no doubt in Kakashi's mind that they were behind it.

This conclusion was only confirmed when the Raikage informed him that he never planned on enlisting in a spiritual barrier—a false rumor spread to spur Kakashi into seeing the barrier as an option. One more reason to be less cautious in accepting help.

And, of course, the two days of downpour that followed Naruto's discovered abduction despite the previous climate giving no suggestion to precipitation. Thanks to Naruto's intel, Kakashi knew this unnatural occurrence could only be the work of the one called Pein.

The Fire Temple was immediately interrogated. The priests did not hide their offense at being accused of committing crimes against Konoha, especially after having such good relations with the village since its foundation. In the end, the investigation checked out and Kakashi was forced to concede that they were as much pawns in this ploy as anyone else.

Every available tracking ninja now scoured the surrounding forests, trying to catch wind of where Naruto could be despite the torrential rain—practically the entire Inuzuka compound had been employed. Of Naruto's childhood group, Sakura, Hinata, Neji and Shino were added to the tracking teams—the Hyuuga and Aburame for obvious reasons and Sakura because she was adamant about doing nothing else.

Despite the desperate need to have Naruto back in their possession, Konoha still required the most powerful forces at home base in case of an attack. Their village hadn't been this vulnerable in quite a long time and there were far too many who would love to take advantage of it.

Kakashi knew that as soon as the other villages caught wind of Naruto's AWOL status, they, too, would be on the hunt for him—and in many cases, not to return him.

"I can't believe this happened...I should have never left him there..."

"Look," Kakashi started, feeling annoyed that she would even think of blaming herself when it was he who made the biggest blunder, "we all thought he was safe. It happened too fast—we didn't have enough information."

Tsunade whirled away from her reflection, pigtails flying.

"That's what I don't get! Who could get in there? It was guarded! Who has that power that would want to harm Naruto?" She snarled, fear and anger at her own inadequacy built with each passing second.

Lightning flashed beyond the wide set of windows, altering the lighting of the room for a spare second.

"It couldn't be any known Akatsuki member," Tsunade continued. "We have every face in the bingo book—despite getting past the ANBU guards, there are so many layers of defenses starting beyond the walls. So, who could it be? Who do they have working with them that we aren't alert to?"

Kakashi brow darkened as an old face immediately came to mind.

"I can think of someone."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Approximately one-hundred meters below the sacred ground of Fire Country's Temple lay a deep, circular hall, known only to the highest caliber of priests. Arched stone entrances encompassed its margins with torches perched on either side of doorway. The flames guttered and flared, giving the chamber an eerie and somber atmosphere.

Only one object currently occupied the remote room. In its very center, on a rectangular, slate alter standing three feet high, lay a man. The body rested as still as death, clad only in pants to reveal ill, waxy skin that looked to be melting into its structure, going so far as to turn black in certain areas. Indeed, if anyone were to chance upon such a scene, all signs would point to this body being corpse.

But, the heavy spiritual energy that laded the very air of the chamber told otherwise. Fixated against the stone walls were six, equidistant sutras that oppressed the demonic energy within the young man, managing to both paralyze and purify him at a plodding, agonizing pace.

Footsteps sounded from a distance, gradually gaining in both volume and echoes, making it hard to pinpoint from which direction someone approached. A figure slowly emerged from one of the stone archways, cloaked in grey with the hood pulled over the head far enough to shroud the upper face in shadow. The man advanced at a leisurely gait until he stood mere inches away from the altar.

He towered over the vulnerable body in silence and regarded it with a mixture of scientific and philosophical assessments.

How easy it would be to end such a powerful existence, to say he had the power to take out this titan among ninja. But no, this body had far too much to offer to be wasted on bragging rights.

The human who had absorbed a demon...the man who gained immortality...

What was it about this boy's body that it could turn any condition into a boon? Did the Fourth know something about this child beforehand to know to choose him for this burden? A last, strategic plan to keep the entirety of the bijuu from being collected?

So many questions he sought answers for, and so many experiments he wanted to try out on this magnificent specimen.

As long as that eight-tails was still on the loose, he had all the time in the world with dear Naruto-kun. So much potential...so much discovery lie ahead of him...the thought nearly had him dizzy in excitement.

He lowered a pale, long-fingered hand to the body and picked at the edge of a sutra pasted against the man's neck. With a single jerk the figure wrenched the paper free, taking with it much of the skin that would not separate from the power of the charm, revealing cords of veins and cartilage, thin sheets of muscle, the white of some vocal cords...

"Delicious," he whispered once he noticed how slowly the blood acted on escaping the pressures of a body. These spiritual wards were really something.

"Lower the power," he spoke into the air behind him.

The priest that followed him down into the lair looked startled at the order.

"But—"

"Do not worry," the voice placated. "He can't harm us. He's completely powerless."

Swallowing, the priest nodded and gently peeled back a corner of one of the sutras stuck to the wall, careful not to rip the charm.

A change of energy immediately swept through the room, and for the first time in nearly twenty hours, Uzumaki Naruto regained the ability to open his eyes. It took a great effort, but in his weak movements, he was able to peel his eyelids apart—enough to take in his surroundings. His vision swam in and out of focus after disuse for so long, and the poor lighting provided little help.

Finally he was able to make out the person standing over him; his position gave him the perfect angle to see directly into the hood.

Naruto could hardly find the strength to move his mouth. Nevertheless, he managed to growl out the name of someone he had no wish to see ever again.

"K-Kabuto..."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

I honestly didn't mean to end it on a cliffhanger...it was just the best place to do so this time. Honest.

How long has it been since I updated? A while, huh?

I don't have much in the way of excuses other than the usual 'I'm getting my ass kicked'. I can blame it on my new interning thing for one of my classes. That shit's just crazy.

And instead of a real chapter you get somewhat of a repeat of last chapter...only from a different POV. And it's short. But I'm sick (and have been for a while now) and mentally exhausted, so I'm really slowing down. I tried to fight reality for so long, but it looks like its catching up to me T_T. Don't worry, I'm still fighting the good fight. Just have to start being a grown up and all that.

Anyway, thank you for all your patience. I'm not going to abandon this, so those who enjoy this fic, be happy, and those who insist that I do, be a grown up. Like me.

And we all must thank **DarkHeroOrion** who was kind enough to give this a look over. He is the king of all grammar nazis.

**Next chap**: Torture. Win.


	31. Captive Carious

**A/N:** I know it's been nearly two months or something since my last update. I have a list of excuses, namely a dead internet and general lack of computer access, but a lot of mental fatigue as well. If you've forgotten what this fic is even about, I suggest you go back and re-read the last couple of chapters because Naruto's slow decent into madness could _really_ throw you off.

If you're reading fanfiction in the first place you probably have the time. No offense.

Also: This chapter has some gory scenes, they might be too graphic for some. Reader be ware.

**Chapter 31**

A sharp, exuberant smile spread across Kabuto's face the beat after Naruto uttered his name. His captive could hardly move his face to glare, but the seemingly impassive gaze burned back into Kabuto's sight, as though Naruto were trying to convey all the ire and frustration of his recent experiences onto someone who could be blamed.

"You don't know how happy it makes me to know you remember me," Kabuto cheered. As he spoke, the moving cheek muscles caught the torch light and the scales on the left side of his face shined with foreboding.

It suddenly dawned on Naruto the kind of psycho Yakushi Kabuto turned out to be. The last time Naruto saw Kabuto was about eight years ago and, while his face may have matured (the human half), his mental state only deteriorated.

Though it would be painfully cliché, Naruto figured asking the obvious question would be most efficient at getting answers without wasting precious energy.

"Why?"

If possible Kabuto's smile stretched even wider, bordering on nightmare-status.

"Quite obviously, Naruto-kun, so I can unlock the secret of immortality."

Naruto's non-responsive stare reflected the barest hints of disbelief—disbelief not at the goal itself, but at the sheer predictability of it. Clearly, humans would never grow out of this phase.

Probably because they couldn't live long enough to.

Kabuto interpreted the nearly invisible reaction correctly and chuckled.

"I'll admit, I once thought it a fool's errand myself, even as I devoted myself wholly to Orochimaru. But recent findings and opportunities have led me to the conclusion that there are different _kinds_ of immortality, many of which that are perfectly reachable."

Kabuto flicked a scalpel into the grip of his palm and absently admired the smooth curve of the blade.

"Orochimaru was my idol as well as my rival. I will finish what he started both for him and in defiance of him. I will surpass him."

"So you're...working with...Akat...suki?" Naruto struggled. It hurt to move his lungs even when he found the strength to do so.

Kabuto blinked and began tracing the veins on Naruto's left arm with the scalpel, light enough to not leave a scratch, forceful enough to pronounce its presence.

"Oh yes, yes. Well, we had a business deal a while back—Madara-sama offered me some material, and I used my results to contribute to his organization. Now, by collaborating with them in getting you out of the village, I get to further my research by using _you_ as material..."

The pointed end of the scalpel suddenly plunged into the crook of Naruto's elbow, deep into the central vein anchored amongst the bones. Naruto didn't react, even as the blade slowly slid back out. The wound didn't so much as bead with blood and Kabuto smiled tightly at the nearly clean instrument.

These wards were fascinating indeed.

"Let me explain to you how this is going to work," he said, pocketing his weapon. "You will lay there, helpless and completely at my mercy, for however long it takes Akatsuki to capture the Hachibi. Then, the Akatsuki will take you back into their custody. But until then, you are mine so long as I keep you alive. In the mean time, I suggest you enjoy the hospitality of the monks. They have control over the intensity of these wards and they are allowing you the ability to speak at the moment, so be mindful of what you say or you'll lose that privilege."

Naruto wished he had the power to melt people's brains with his mind.

"Don't look so down, Naruto-kun. I've been looking forward to this for far too long—ever since the chuunin exams to be honest. There are only so many times you can watch someone get up after being knocked down before intrigue settles in. And you, my friend, have been knocked down far too many times to be feasible."

Despite his anger at the situation, Naruto could admit that this was a long time. Hell, he could hardly recall those exams, only that he never really became a chuunin in the first place.

The silver-haired menace drew away and it boggled Naruto at how relaxed Kabuto could be in his presence when only a day before no enemy in his right mind would think of taking him so lightly. It only served as a reminder to how pathetically harmless he'd become.

"Behave yourself, Naruto-kun," Kabuto said over his shoulder in that same, casual voice he'd been speaking in the whole conversation, as though the two were old friends.

_Die, die, die._

The inane ill-wishing did not appear to have affected Kabuto in the least; the man continued until Naruto could no longer spot him out of his peripheral. From there the sound of footsteps carried into a fade before Naruto was sure he was alone.

_This...this is bad,_ Naruto decided within his mind. _With me out of the picture, Kirabi's going to have the entire Akatsuki focused on him..._

And, in all honesty, what chance did the eight-tails have against Madara, Pein _and_ Kabuto? In addition to that, Kirabi would be so busy fending them off that no one would be around to stop the other villages from going after the two, loose bijuu.

When Naruto released them from the bijuu prison, it never occurred to him that he wouldn't be around to monitor their activity.

_Please, please hold out for me_, he silently pleaded to his fellow Jinchuuriki._ I can handle whatever Kabuto has in store for me...just hold out until Konoha can find me. It shouldn't take them too long. I hope._

And he _truly_ hoped it wouldn't. He may be able to speak now, but his body was still wracked in an unremitting agony. He could feel himself dying at molasses speed. His neck now burned something fierce from where that sutra once subdued his mind—even when removed, the lingering affects of spiritual energy-exposure continued to plague him.

This certainly painted a bleak picture for when he got out of there. What if this turned out to be something he could never recover from? Would his body be forever scarred? Would the damage in his stomach muscle not recover? Could he never build them up again due to niggling purification energies? He'd been feeling the pain of his decay for so long at this point that he'd forgotten how it felt to be pain-free. And it'd only been a day or two.

Possibly three.

No more than four, surely.

Gods, the sooner he got out of here, the better.

_I'm still in Fire Country...I'm sure of it. I've got to be somewhere around the temple. With the amount of people that are probably looking for me, this shouldn't take too long. I _am_ kind of important these days._

Unfortunately, for the young captive, Naruto's current state of being didn't provide him with the information of just how far out of reach he precisely was.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

The interesting thing about being "freeze dried" is that one really didn't need to eat.

Naruto's body was dying under the influence of spiritual magic, but the process was so slow that the damage of starvation hardly registered. Sure, his stomach turned out to be the pinnacle area of pain, but that was also where his youki source stemmed. The ceaseless purification burning did well in overpowering the distinct claw of hunger.

He really had no idea how long he lay there; with no sources of sunlight to monitor shadows and no outside voices or noises to clue him into the happenings beyond his isolated cavern, Naruto could do nothing more than wonder.

_He did, however,_ manage to find some obscure manner of realizing the passage of time. One of the monks had shown up periodically throughout his stay—arriving for only several seconds to sneer down at him and look over the progress of his degeneration (probably to make sure he wouldn't end up dead before Akatsuki needed him). Each time he visited, the monk's head looked a little darker until suddenly he would be clean shaven again. This particular monk had needed to shave his head at least seven times so...maybe three weeks? Naruto really didn't know what kind of effort it took to remain bald.

The worst part of his predicament came not from being purified or the knowledge that his useless body was slowly melting. It was his inability to fall unconscious. He couldn't sleep—he couldn't escape the pain even for the barest of moments.

He knew part of his mind had to be conscious...the part that was always unconsciously running his body...but these spiritual energies made it physically impossible to follow the signals his mind tried to send. The connection wasn't severed, it was numbed. It's like he was in a perpetual state of REM sleep, but still secured to the outside world. His brain activity could not shut down to recover.

Every now and then, during the occasional fit of desperation to escape the eternal torment and sheer boredom, Naruto would attempt to meditate, to reach contact with the Earth. But that required gaining control and moving the energies within his body, and Naruto quickly learned that this particular ability was stripped from him—unless he _wanted_ to swiftly and permanently cripple himself. Forcing the energies in his body to move triggered the spiritual chakra paralyzing him to go haywire, and attack any areas that stirred.

He already knew his neck and stomach must have looked grisly from having the most activity of holy power, and now the small stab of Kabuto's scalpel in the crook of his arm throbbed and burned. His body simply did not know how to stop healing; as slow as the process was, his youki still sought to cure the more vulnerable parts of his body and, in reaction, the spiritual energy tore back at it.

So the once small puncture compounded, and Naruto envisaged it as a spreading infection with black edges and slowly cooking flesh. Though a morbid line of thinking, Naruto found himself bored enough to use his imagination to its fullest, entertaining himself by trying to picture each and every detail that the pain he felt could point to.

In that respect, perhaps his inability to sleep was for the best. His body tended to focus on healing whenever his mind rested and he could quite literally wake up dead. Being awake meant his body was constantly destroying itself in a catabolic mess...but being asleep would most definitely and unintentionally augment that damage.

Doing nothing but thinking about his own decay or the state of the shinobi world at that moment was possibly the most depressing his life had ever been.

That was why his final past-time came in the form of song—within his own mind, that is. One song in particular would dominate his thoughts....something that Jiraiya would sing to pass the time well on those long, uninterrupted trails.

_Ninety-nine books of porn on the shelf, ninety-nine books of porn..._

_Take one down, read it aloud, ninety-eight books of porn on the shelf..._

It could keep him entertained for hours, even it he messed up on the words or lost count of the numbers.

_Ninety-eight books of porn on the shelf, ninety-eight books of porn..._

_Take one down, read it aloud, ninety-six books of porn on the shelf..._

...See!? Three numbers into it and he was already fucking up. Maybe it took too much power to actively think and the spiritual energies were melting his brain as well. No part of him would be left un-melted when he got out of this.

He had officially hit rock bottom.

_Ninety-seven books of porn on the shelf, ninety-seven books of porn..._

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Hitomi-chan, please eat."

Hitomi ignored the request and plowed a cherry tomato into some pickle slices with the tips of her chopsticks.

Juhi sighed at the common display of difficulty the youngster exuded ever since her father had been taken.

Though the spiritual barriers were taken down around Konoha, the girl had remained in Bassai, disallowed to go anywhere near the ninja village in case there lay anymore traps within its walls for demonic individuals. A rotation of ninja kept watch over her, and therefore Juhi was forced to endure being watched as well. The situation was not fun for any party involved.

The elderly woman felt terrible worry for Naruto. The boy had done a good job of keeping her ignorant to the extreme dangers of shinobi life—particularly the dangers of his own—but her civilian status did not protect her from realizing the sort of danger he currently faced. Certainly not with the company she kept these days.

From what she gathered out of the under-detailed explanations from his friends, Naruto was captured by enemies—the most treacherous of sorts—and they were no closer to finding him now than they were when he first disappeared. Every clue thus far led to a dead end.

It had been over a month since Oki burst into her Inn with a distraught Hitomi. For the first couple of weeks the little blonde cried and cried, traumatized from having her father torn away from her and tortured with the knowledge of who had him. Oh yes, the girl was well aware of this "Akatsuki" and what they were after...hell, she probably knew more than Juhi did herself and Juhi cursed Naruto for being so open with his daughter about the perils he faced. He must have known this would be a possibility given his value, though he probably had hoped it would happen when she was older. He clearly wanted Hitomi prepared for this, to understand the possible reasons behind his absence.

But telling her and having her experience his kidnapping were two very different situations.

Eventually, Hitomi had gotten a hold of herself, willing the premature grieving to stop, willing her mind to accept that what had happened had happened and that her father may not make it back on his own.

Then the difficulty started.

She demanded people try harder to find her father; she attempted to run off on more than one occasion to search for him herself. So far she had bitten no less than five ANBU and clawed at least nine. She ignored anyone who she felt actively kept her from being reunited with her father—and as of yesterday, when Juhi punished the girl for making an ANBU bleed, that included the old inn keeper.

Moegi currently sat across the table from the sulking seven year old and frowned when the younger girl ignored her grandmother and continued to push bits of food around on her plate.

"Hitomi-chan, don't be like this," Juhi began.

Hitomi slammed her chopsticks on the table and the utensils immediately shattered under the force. A loud and deep crack tore through the glossy tabletop.

"Hitomi!"

Juhi moved to get up but Moegi beat her to it, appearing at Hitomi's chair in a spare second. She grabbed the girl by the shoulders and turned her to face her.

"That's enough, Hitomi!"

Their faces were inches apart and Moegi could hear the muted grinding of teeth, the harsh breathing of barely restrained anger, and the low rumbling emitting from the girl's chest. This was nothing like the soft, content purr Moegi knew Hitomi was capable of. This was threatening. This was 'back off' in every sense of the phrase. Looking down, she noticed Hitomi curl her fingers into strained fists, tight enough for her claws to pierce the skin of her palms. Anger and frustration charged from the child in pulsing, baleful waves.

At such a proximity, this slight, chubby-cheeked girl was perfectly capable of taking off Moegi's head before she could react and Moegi was suddenly reminded that Hitomi was not the average seven-year-old.

"Hitomi, calm down and talk to me," Moegi commanded, falling back on her haunches. Hitomi obviously wanted people out of her personal bubble.

"I hate this. Why are we sitting here eating!? Why aren't we finding him!?" Hitomi burst out, as though the argument hadn't been thrown in their faces almost daily. The apples of her cheeks darkened as uncontrollable anger built.

"We are!" Moegi tried to head Hitomi off before anything else ended up broken. "There are so many people looking for him right now! Nonstop! You know this! I've told you a hundred times!"

"Then why haven't they found him? If they're trying as hard as you say they are, then they must have checked everywhere by now!"

Hitomi still remembered the pain the barrier inflicted on her freshly and could only see her father suffering under similar unpleasant sensations while they all sat around, healthy and safe. For the last few weeks she felt nothing but guilt and resentment and fear.

Juhi reached over and delicately put a large hand on Hitomi's arm.

"They're doing the best they can, sweetie, they're only—"

Juhi stopped talking, Moegi bit her lip, and Hitomi's nostrils flared.

"Then I guess this isn't a job for...them," Hitomi stood from her seat, wrenching her hand away from Juhi and moving further from Moegi.

"Where are you going?" the seals mistress asked, feeling exasperated with the entire situation. That sweet little girl who liked to hold hands and sing ridiculous songs had transformed into something previously known only to Naruto.

"I'm going to become strong," the girl vowed, only slowing her gait a little. Saying the words out loud eased the tightness in her chest a little and she continued, "As strong as my dad. No—stronger! And then _I'm_ going to save him! Since no one else'll do it..."

"I'll help!" declared the fourth dinner guest.

The three females were suddenly reminded that Keiji had tagged along with Moegi when the woman came to visit. Now that Hitomi could no longer attend the academy, she rarely saw any of her friends from Konoha. Keiji made a point of dropping by every now and then, despite how unpleasant Hitomi had been of late.

Nevertheless, she tolerated him better then most due to him smuggling Stick to her from Naruto's Konoha apartment. Since then, she hadn't let anyone touch it, hoarding it in her room next to her bed.

Hitomi immediately shot him down.

"You have nothing to do with this."

"Yes, I do!" Keiji pushed hotly.

"No! Mind your own business!"

"This is my business! I knew your dad and he's a friend of Shikamaru's—"

"That doesn't make it your business! You're just another Konoha ninja looking for their shield! I want my dad back! I don't care about what he's supposed to protect!"

Moegi started from her shocked silence. Is this what Hitomi thought about the ninja of Konoha? That they only wanted her father for his power and protection?

It would be a hard point to argue against. In fact, it was no doubt true on many fronts. It certainly explained why the girl had become so irate as of late. She probably thought their motivation for finding Naruto lie solely in self-interest.

Keiji got up from his seat and walked right up to the raving quasi-human. Moegi gripped the edge of the table to keep herself from instinctually pulling him away from her. She didn't want to be the one to explain to Kurenai how her son's face became irreparably scarred.

"Your dad is going to train me as his apprentice! So as his student...I'm involved, too,'' Keiji declared with a puffed chest.

"That just means you _are_ doing this for yourself!" Hitomi howled. "All you care about is how powerful you can become! You were always like that in school, too! You're just as selfish as any other human!"

Juhi and Moegi winced, but felt too perplexed to involve themselves in a heated debate between seven-year olds.

Keiji scowled and shouted back, "That's not it! I'm sick of not being able to do anything when I know I have the ability! I know there's something different about my eyes and I know I can become great if I get the right opportunities! If I get strong enough, people won't lose their husbands or fathers! I can protect everyone just like your dad can."

"Don't compare yourself to him!"

"I'm not! I wouldn't! Because he's—I—I just—I don't...I don't want to see my mom cry anymore! Or you!"

The subsequent silenced sounded abnormally loud after the ringing shouting match.

"I...I want to help save him for you," Keiji finished feebly with all the innocence of the child he really was. He fixed his sight on the floor-wood between his sandals, missing the highly amused look shared between the older women.

Hitomi stared at Keiji's darkened face before turning away with her arms crossed.

"Humph, big words for a human," she announced, critically.

Keiji looked up, shocked that she would so uncharacteristically call out species like that, only to see her holding out her fist to him. Her face was still turned away, and he couldn't figure out why, but he was sure he could see the corner of her mouth turned up in a grim smile.

"Let's see if you can live up to that," she added quietly.

Keiji's face turned into his own look of determination and met her challenge with his own fist.

"Count on it!"

Juhi and Moegi remained in their seats with impassive expressions as they struggled to unravel what the hell just happened.

"And I _do not_ cry," Hitomi avowed before stalking out the front door.

"Where does she think she's—" Juhi started before she heard:

"_Oi! ANBU-guy! Come out here and train me!"_

Keiji scampered out the door as well, no doubt hoping to cut in on a bit of that treatment.

"When did she get so articulate?" Moegi asked the older woman besides her. "I didn't even think she knew what the ANBU were called."

"I doubt she knows what it means, but she does have exceptional hearing and a sharp mind."

"_I know where you are, human, so it's no use ignoring me! I'll bite you again!"_

"Hm," Moegi hummed sardonically, "and her father's political tact."

"We've got to get her out of the habit of calling people humans before it sticks."

"I'm pretty sure we're too late."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Wake up, demon!"

Irritably, Naruto opened his eyes—one of the few movements he was allowed to perform. He tried to eye-scowl at the monk who just hollered at him, but he didn't feel he had quite the expression-wielding skills Kakashi handled.

"I _can't_ sleep, dumb-ass," he chose to reply. He found speaking to be easier after a bit of practice. It was simply a matter of learning how to balance the limited breath he could bring into his lungs and expelling it into words.

Sometimes, when he needed a distraction from the obvious or simply had to remind himself that there was once a life outside his prison, he would sing Jiraiya's song out loud to himself. It also had the bonus of needling any nearby monks.

"Oh, that's right, _you can't," the monk—one of the usual three who visited—sneered. _"There's no escape for you, is there?"

The face loomed overhead with a wicked smile of uncommonly-white teeth. Naruto hoped that his own teeth hadn't rotted out of his mouth yet. He rather liked his smile.

Without warning, the monk plunged a relatively dull knife into his right wrist. Naruto shut his eyes and reopened them in a slow blink; he still lacked the muscle control to scrunch his eyelids so portraying discomfort continued to escape him. Oddly enough, the fresh pain in his arm bought his attention a temporary respite from the constant throb of being purified. A nice, painful break. Exactly what he needed.

"Kabuto-sama is in need of some DNA," the monk—_Zenza_, Naruto thought suddenly, _his name is Zenza_—said conversationally.

Naruto felt something terrible happening to his arm...the folds of skin on either side of the crude incision were being peeled away, tearing through the layered tissue with careless abandon.

"Let's see...I suppose he'll want some epithelial tissue—"

Zenza pared the uprooted rope of skin away from its body anchor and swiped it off with the old blade. Only one swing was needed to dislodge the skin, but the dullness of the blade pulled at the matter with enough force to tear the opening wider.

Zenza then dangled the flayed flesh in Naruto's line of sight and Naruto felt he had to stare at it, if only because it was a part of his body and he hadn't seen any piece of himself since he first fell in Konoha.

That didn't make it any less disgusting as bits of his own, gelatinous blood flew off the flapping tissue and hit his face. Still, Naruto quite preferred this sort of torment to having his body cleansed and roasted at its suffering leisure. At least this was a familiar pain he knew he could recover from.

His thoughts spoke too soon.

"And some muscle, for sure."

_Oh...oh fuck,_ Naruto cursed bleakly._ This is going to hurt._

Zenza's knife cut a small slit into the exposed muscle at one end of the new wound. Then, he pushed blunt, stubby fingers into the notch, lodging the chipped fingernails as deep as they would go, and pulled at the tightly woven filaments with his bare hands, clawing out the flesh. Using his other hand, Zenza sawed the knife into the sinews that affixed the muscle to the ulna as he slowly peeled the meat out of the arm.

_Yes...this hurts. This hurts a lot...shitshitshit...has my tolerance gone down or is this really supposed to hurt this much? Ow. Okay, you're done now. You've got it..._

He could _hear_ his flesh being stripped away—wet and churning, like a tongue being pulled from the roof of a dry mouth. The sound alone would have been enough to nauseate him even without the physical reminder of being gored.

_Think happy thoughts...think happy thought—ah, ow!—ugh, what's happy? Uh...damn-damn...they haven't castrated me yet! That is happy! That is very happy—FUCK! Mother-fuck-your-mom, I will never recover from this!_

Naruto's eyes were closed as he threw a jumble of words around in his mind, so he missed the next display of his insides swung over his body. He could still feel the weight of his blood, thickened from misuse, hitting his chest in stodgy droplets.

"I suppose he'd need a bit more variety of tissue...after all, Kabuto-sama is a brilliant man. He can do untold things with the most basic of cells."

Naruto heard the words but he didn't want to believe them—_what other tissue did he have? His eyeballs?_—until he felt the drawn-out stab of something carving into his lateral torso. He clenched his teeth as much as he could against the feel of someone hacking away at his side, but he couldn't stop his senses from recording and decoding everything that was happening.

It seemed to go on forever. Perhaps the acute lack of sensual stimulants had his ears, nose and touch sending lamentably well-coordinated pictures to his mind. He knew the approximate size of skin that got scraped off of the left side of his ribs. He knew his blood began to bead out from the exposed wall of muscle, perhaps running together in one or two small dribbles before slowing to a stop altogether. He knew which muscle he was losing—_Latisomething? Latiside?—_and its approximate thickness as the scalpel plunged into the once impressive array of proteins, scooping and scraping with no finesse.

He knew what was happening. He was being flayed like livestock.

_LATISSIMUS!_ Naruto yelled as loudly as his thoughts could go, trying to drown out at least one of his senses in the most irrational manner possible. _That's what it's called! I paid attention in the academ—no, they never taught us that there...then how did I know that? Shi-shit...whatever...that fucktard's destroying my latissimus! And he needs to stop—right now! I need that for—ah—lateral things...Fuuuuuuck..._

Naruto continually forbade his mind from trying to imagine it—even _he_ had his limits for gore—but all reason seemed beyond him at this point. Instead, the individual snapping of each ligament between muscles turned stereo on him, the travel speed to his ears matched with the oversensitive jarring vibrations that shook is very bones.

He took back what he thought before: he didn't prefer this kind of pain. Large of amounts of damage he could handle, especially all at once—it was what he was built for—but he never had anything drawn out so slowly before. He couldn't run around and rely on adrenaline to carry him through. All he could do was feel...and think himself into insanity.

_No...Wait...that's not my latissimus...that's my...serrr...seri...serratus...'m so stupid...I don't even know what part of me is being..._vandalized—

"Oh...look at this...."

Naruto opened his eyes before realizing what he did, and then proceeded to swear up and down at the paired organs for obeying the monk against his will. He did not want to see this.

Yet he was desperate to see it.

Zenza was holding up a sheaf of something nearly unrecognizable. It was brown and red and grey, bundled and chunked and dripping a black-red foul substance that dribbled down and stained the thick arms of the monk.

Naruto's eyes bulged as he made the connection, and that twisted knot of hunger pangs pulsing from his shrunken stomach reversed itself into revulsion. Zenza had just stripped the muscle off his side...and was now holding it like a handful of cow meat.

Naruto made a mental note to never, ever eat anything the monks might feed him in the future.

_That's my...That's what it looks like!? Oh, sick. Good...you can have it. I'm glad you took that...that burger of ugly out of me. It doesn't even hurt so badly now...though growing that back is going to be a bitch—_

What Zenza did next, the blond never saw coming. Probably because his eyes were closed again.

Naruto only had the careless bumping of a wrist against the serrated, flapping edge of the whittled opening and the sickening feeling of knuckles raking against connective tissues before the monk's hand grasped around an exposed rib and—

**SNAP**

Naruto was sad to say he made a noise that time. His entire chest jerked on reflex, his lungs filled with more air than they had experienced in who-knows-how-long, and the snagged, chafed end left from the stolen bone burned at a temperature close to freezing.

"Hurt, did it?" Zenza asked in a conversational tone as the delightfully anguished cry met his ears.

"Urk—"

"Yes, I suppose it did," Zenza answered for him. He reached into a satchel and pulled out an airtight bag, in which he deposited the rib. The bag went back into the hip-satchel with the other two collected _materials_.

Zenza stood from his stool, watching as blood oozed out of the cavernous hole at Naruto's side.

"I doubt this will actually kill you—you _are_ a demon after all—but with being purified...," Zenza let the sentence hang in the air for a moment. "Well, I suppose this will be an interesting test to see just how powerful you actually are."

The man left, and Naruto focused all his attention on reeling in his erratic breathing. He needed all the control he could get; he already felt like he was suffocating with the trauma of his lungs trying to expand, only to be jerked to a stop, a quarter full of the air he so desperately wanted.

Naruto closed his eyes at a building sensation,_ Oh no...Oh no, no, no..._

His youki was doing its thing...he could feel it beginning to stir...it was going to try and heal the damage the monk did.

_Stop! Stop! No! Bad! Be still! Please, please..._

He tried to stop it. He didn't know _how_ he tried—he simply threw all of his mental tenacity into keeping his body from healing. But the spiritual energies already began reacting and his left side went ablaze with untold agony.

"AHH! Shit—!"

Screaming strained his neck, where the first injury still plagued him, and the resulting stab of purification caused a gurgle to choke his gullet. Naruto bit his lip to head off the next scream, trying desperately to gain some control back over himself. He was still breathing too fast, too hard; he could practically feel his lungs cracking and withering like a cremated corpse as the rapid movements called unwanted attention from the wards.

But the burning wouldn't stop—it wasn't letting up—and...why wasn't his youki obeying him? He didn't want to heal! He'd rather have another bone snapped than suffer this any longer.

For the first time since he found himself on that alter, Naruto was forced to realize that he may not make it out alive this time.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Madara walked along the lowest bows of some cypress tree, back and forth, like a pacing tiger. The path may have been aggressive, but the air he exuded was not. It never was; he was simply a curious bystander in the chaotic game that took the world by storm. He glanced down at the silver-haired freak seated at the base of the tree he patrolled.

"What have you done with Ren?" Madara asked casually, as though he were making small talk. Regardless of how it sounded, he hadn't seen the young man in a few weeks and found himself rather curious to the boy's whereabouts. He wasn't particularly fond of the individual—Ren lacked common quirks that made people so interesting—but he got the job done when it came to scientific necessities.

Ren was _supposed_ to be in charge of underground networking; he was the one that gave them the faux body advanced enough to trick the Konoha doctors into thinking Naruto was dead. Of course it couldn't fool the Legendary Sucker, but it bought them enough time. _Just_ enough.

Close calls such as that instance were what made these times so exciting.

Kabuto waved his hand over his head, not looking up from a notebook full of symbols and medical jargon.

"His body had begun to decay. I'm currently working on a new model, one that, with a bit of luck, will have some advancements and a farther expiration date. I don't know how Nagato ever managed to keep his running so long. And those started out dead!"

Madara scuffed the ball of his foot along the branch, sending a volley of bark chips down onto Kabuto's head.

He shook with wicked and silent giggles, privately wishing he could fall back into his Tobi persona from time to time, just to exercise those impetuous urges. Here in the forest, no one had to know except his victim.

"That's because you're relying on an imitation. You could always go meet the man himself and ask him for his secret," he suggested, turning away from Kabuto's less-than-amused stare.

"I'm no fool," Kabuto grumped, brushing a few wood chips from his shoulder. "Besides, he's served his purpose. I have a new line of experiments that will take me so much farther. Living through another body is just never enough. All I'm getting is visual and audio output."

"And you feel you'll be able to get other sensory perceptions with this new material?"

"Oh, so much more," Kabuto's voice alighted. "I really cannot thank you enough for this opportunity. Though I acknowledge that this is a time-limited opportunity. Speaking of which, how is your search for the Hachibi?"

"We're close. He's clever for someone with such poor linguistics. But the race is almost over. I trust that our boy will last until then?"

"Yes, yes. These monks are good; they've got just enough spiritual energies running through him to keep him immobile. At this rate, the purification process won't kill him for a couple years. Quite remarkable, really. You should see him—I've never seen anything like it..."

Madara didn't share the enthusiasm that rang so clear in Kabuto's rhapsodizing.

"There better not be any lasting damage from being purified that would cause anything to tarnish my plans, Kabuto."

The scales on the side of Kabuto's face shined with a reptilian polish.

"I should hope not," he replied amicably. "But even Uzumaki Naruto cannot bounce back from everything."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"Good evening, Demon."

Naruto didn't need to open his eyes to know which monk this was; the voice was permanently engraved in his brain.

_Good evening, Master of Macabre._

It took Naruto a second longer to truly process the greeting.

_It's evening?_

Sometimes, even knowing what time of day it was made him happy. That was how sad his life was at this point.

It took far too long for his youki to calm down. It still hadn't, really, but he had gotten his body under as much control as he could given the circumstances. He'd gotten used to it. Sort of. The constant pain was all he knew, so he had no other choice _but_ to get used to it. Singing was now out of the question. Singing outside of his head, that is.

He wasn't sure how long he was lost in agony after Zenza left him mutilated—days if he were to guess. Then again, he wasn't sure how long anything was these days. The only distraction he could think of was thinking. So he worked on keeping up a stream of consciousness.

He definitely hurt more than he thought he hurt before—he was being purified stronger in more concentrated areas—but he couldn't be sure. He couldn't remember _before_ very well.

Or what before was.

Before what?

What was he talking about?

"This is our most promising young monk—Joben. Joben, meet the once indomitable demon."

_I am not a yeti,_ Naruto responded automatically, before thinking back on what he just thought. _What the _hell_ is a yeti? Is it indomitable?_

"That's...that's a demon?" This Joben sounded relatively horrified. And his voice...it was so _young_.

_No, not indomitable…abominable,_ he suddenly thought._ It's a snowman._

_But how would I know what a snowman is? I've only seen snow a couple of times in my life._

_I wonder if Yukie-hime ever saw a yeti considering what she grew up in._

_...Holy shit! I know a princess! When did that happen?_

"Don't be fooled by its appearance," he heard Zenza say. "You have no idea what it's capable of."

_Neither do you, unless you want to try fighting a fair fight. Give me my rib back. And my latissimus._

_And my serratus, because you didn't even touch my latissimus that much. I don't know why I even brought it up._

"But he can't do anything now?" the apprehension in the boy's voice made Naruto feel proud that he could still scare people whilst in this exposed, defunct state.

"No, it's perfectly safe."

Naruto chose that moment to open his eyes—sluggishly, as any excess movement seemed to awaken the pain in his body. The young face hovering overhead couldn't have been more than eighteen, with straight ebony hair swinging by his cheeks. Apparently he hadn't begun the practice of head-shaving yet. His expression showed fading traces of fear and awe while rapidly adopting bleak confusion. The eyes were wide and brown, brimming with innocence, and casting such clarity that Naruto could almost make out the steel blue of his own reflecting back at him.

"Can he...can he see me?" Joben whispered, looking as though he regretted getting so close in the first place.

"Of course it can," Zenza whipped out a knife with ninja-like ease; a knife Naruto was all too familiar with. He raised his arm in a poise to strike down on Naruto's head. "Do you want me to take away its sight for you? Would that make you more comfortable?"

"NO!" Joben squawked, springing back in horror. "You couldn't possibly—! That's just—"

"All right, all right," Zenza's disappointment pealed salient in his voice and he re-pocketed the knife.

"Is that what happened...th-there...?" the kid looked like he was about to be sick, and his eyes were trained on Naruto's left side where Zenza dug out the rib.

Naruto wondered how badly it would sting to get vomit in there.

...It then occurred to him that he nearly lost his eyes naught five seconds ago.

_Thank you, apprentice-torturer...thank you for being a pansy._

"Kabuto-sama needed materials—I may have to send you down in my stead in the future. It's getting harder keeping Konoha's suspicion off of us, and having me or the other two remaining masters disappearing for long periods of time from the Fire Temple is suspect. Why? Don't tell me you're feeling sorry for the beast?"

"No! Of course not!"

"Good. Now come here, I'll show you the mechanics of the wards."

They walked out of Naruto's line of sight and he closed his eyes. Trying to strain his eyes against his peripheral vision would only add to his agony. Unnecessary.

"See these ofuda?"

"They suppress his youki, correct?"

"Yes, and the sheer strength of their power was laid down by the late Masters, and is currently enforced by their spirits. This very bunker hasn't been used in centuries. There hasn't been a need to until now.

"Now, you need to know that it's not enough for the ofuda to be in place...the energy flow through each one—and how they all connect with one another—is very precise. This tiny rip right here…see it?"

"Yes sir."

"That is what allows it to open its eyes and look at you. Notice how none of the calligraphy is impaired? Only tearing the corner of the base paper was enough to allow it minimal movement. Destroying any part of the ink would irreparably destroy the network of sacred energy that binds it. You must never do anything to endanger the web."

"Should...should you be saying this in front of...that...?"

"My dear boy, were you not listening? It cannot carry out any actions regardless of what it hears. You simply need to check on it from time to time to make sure the purification hasn't sped up for any such reason; we'd rather not arouse the Akatsuki's ire by letting it die before its time."

"Of course, Master."

Naruto felt like crying. He knew the base mechanics to his prison; he knew the possibility of escaping not only existed but lay only twenty feet away in every direction.

He knew he'd never be able to free himself.

It was one more desire dangling tauntingly in front of his face, forever out of reach, for the only people who knew where he was were under the impression that he deserved everything that befell him.

"Come," Zenza's voice floated loudly overhead. "I will show you how to make the binding ofuda needed to ready it for travel. It shouldn't be long before it's out of our hair."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Naruto once thought silence was unbearable. Then he had a child and silence became a rare and coveted privilege he would snatch any moment he could.

Now, he was back to square one, with silence being the detested, endless, choking blanket of suffocation and solitary confinement. He swore that the time in between visits from disdainful monks seemed to stretch longer and longer...

...Or perhaps his desperation simply grew. He thought he could handle being purified at the slow pace he was at, he even thought he'd somehow manage after his youki triggered and the purification augmented, but he was wrong. He couldn't handle this...it wasn't just the pain, it was its consistency. He could only adapt so much before lunacy caught up with him. Even opening his eyes seemed pointless. At least beyond a veil of black he could picture things he once knew.

Though those pictures were hard to tell if they were imaginary or from memory. He may have known a princess...though the idea was too far-fetched to believe. He may have also seen Kabuto a while back...but the man claimed that he only sought immortally and that seemed so ridiculously obvious it could have easily been fabricated within his mind.

Naruto was positive he was a ninja, and had the Kyuubi in him—why else would this be happening to him?—but he didn't know if Sasuke was dead or if that was all just a bad dream. Sasuke defected a long time ago...but Itachi wasn't evil. So why? The Uchiha were in the wrong, and Itachi was good, but Sasuke left anyway.

But Sasuke probably didn't know all that at the time.

For some reason he thought Sasuke was his best friend...but he could only remember receiving pain at his hands. But there was such a drive to save him...but so much disappointment. He could only remember seeing disdain or indifference on the guy's face…but _he was his best friend_! Right?

Some part _had_ to be made up, because something didn't fit there.

Sasuke probably never existed at all. It was the simplest solution.

Thoughts such as these often lead to him repeating all the names of the people he _knew_ existed, because he had such clear memories that he didn't want them to fade into imagination.

_Hitomi—love her to death, she's my baby, and I know she's real. Sakura—I know I'm attracted to her and I love her...but do I love-love her? I have to love something about her that's more than her body. Tsunade—pity her for some reason. Kakashi—pity him also, but want to cause him much pain..._

Amidst the festering open sores along his left side and burning into his neck, Naruto could still sense someone approaching as soon as he entered the room. He lost so many of his senses...he could hardly hear anything unless it sounded from the immediate vicinity.

But the sound of the footprints that did carry over—light, unsure, shuffling to a stop—tipped him off. He cracked his eyes open for confirmation.

It was the Joben kid.

Funny how easily the name came to him.

This boy didn't look down on him in hate as the others did. There was still some innocence around the young man as well as some juvenile resistance that surely had him questioning the absolute teachings he was brought up with regarding demons. Joben looked down on Naruto in pity—and for once, this didn't upset Naruto. In fact, he more than welcomed any emotion other than loathing. Even when he was a child he had the Sandaime to remind him that he was worth caring about. Being in the care of monks that believed he was the paradigm of evil did little for his sense of self-worth.

"I—uh," The boy paused and suddenly his face grew snide.

"Why the hell am I even talking to you? You can't even understand me."

Now _this_ Naruto had to gawk at.

"What...dumb ass...told you that?"

Joben flew back from the altar and screamed, "By the Gods!"

Naruto wanted to laugh so badly, but the torture he was put through these days drove laughing to the farthest respites of his mind.

Instead, he muttered with as much mirth as he could muster, "Just like I can't feel pain...right?"

It sounded more contemptuous to his ears than he meant for. He didn't want to scare the kid.

Slowly, Joben crept closer, beguiling Naruto with his face of childish wonder.

"But...but you're just a...a beast! They said—"

"Your masters are...misinformed," Naruto interrupted. He voice was soft, but perhaps it was the shock that he had the ability to speak that Joben allowed the interruption. "I'm only...only half demon...sort of. I was...human...first..."

Joben was shaking his head but Naruto did not see this. He closed his eyes to focus on the task of speaking. His throat felt raw. His youki would start moving any second...and then the spiritual powers would attack.

"No...No...You've done all these horrible things—you had to be stopped!"

"Akatsuki...Kabuto...I have to stop them...It was...why I exist...to p-protect—"

"Enough!" Joben snapped. He was breathing harder than necessary. "I won't be filled with your lies, fiend!"

Naruto couldn't let this window of opportunity shut—here was someone who could, even by the barest of chances, help him. He opened his eyes and zeroed in on the confused child—and he _was_ just a child, with eyes so wide and innocent...someone who actively looked for more responsibilities, wanting to care for more than just himself, wanting to prove that he could be a man without understanding that loss that comes with adulthood.

A child.

"Please...," Naruto rasped. "I have...a daughter...I just want to...to make sure...she's all...right..."

"Stop! Just stop! Master Sentoki would never—not Kabuto-sama, either..."

As he spoke, his eyes were transfixed on the blackened, glistening hole in the man's side, where his beloved master bragged about brutally snapping off a rib bone. His only consolation was knowing that, despite the human form, this thing was truly a demon.

But now it was talking to him, it was pleading for salvation, saying it had a daughter of all things. It claimed they were mistaken...that it was meant to protect. But if this were true, then why didn't it protect them from the attacking immortals that the Masters spoke about? Why did it release more demons into the world?

It was lying. It had to be.

Take three steps backwards, Joben finally picked up the nerve to turn its back to Naruto and ran.

Naruto closed his eyes and groaned.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

To the outside world, one week had passed before Joben re-entered the chamber. To Naruto...it could have been a year and he wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.

"Er...Master Sentoki asked that I collect another blood sample..."

Joben felt so odd talking to this thing that could talk back...but he would have felt even odder touching it without giving it warning first.

The demon gave no response that it heard him. The eyes remained lidded and the face motionless. A false peace that felt more eerie than tranquil.

Taking a deep breath, the monk seated himself on the three-legged stool stationed at the altar's side. He pulled out a finely-bladed scalpel and carefully pressed a small incision into the bicep. He then positioned a small, clear tube underneath the cut to catch the blood.

After several long seconds, nothing happened and the tube remained clear and unsmeared by any blood dribblets.

Joben could have slapped himself as he thought of the wards. Master Sentoki said it wouldn't bleed because of them.

So then how would he get the blood...?

Of their own accord, his eyes trailed down the appendage to the openly bloodied hole in the forearm. There _was_ blood in there...

Joben cleared his throat, feeling decidedly awkward as he pressed the tube against the raw, inner flesh to let the molasses-like blood slowly roll into the container. He desperately tried to make sure his fingers didn't touch the sides of the wound or the uprooted fibers of the muscle that were torn away from formation weeks ago.

His hands were shaking.

This was taking too long.

He tried to keep his breathing even.

What if he was hurting it?

This was so wrong and disgusting. He became a monk to heal and help...not to...not...whatever this was.

"If you have a daughter...then what would that make her? If you're only half human as you said..."

Joben was already berating himself for opening his mouth. How could he let on that he even contemplated the demon's lies being true?

The "man" opened his eyes and stared at him for a moment with anguished grey irises. Joben shifted uncomfortably under the hard gaze. Finally, the captive closed his eyes and quirked his mouth into some form of a grimace.

"I...shouldn't have told you that..."

"Why?" Joben asked. So the demon had lied, it was confessing to its foolhardy fabrications—

"It put her in danger...if they could bring me down like this...what...what could they do...to a defenseless child...?"

The young monk recoiled, openly horrified at the response.

"We would never—the Masters would never—not to a child!"

The demon opened its eyes once more—those haunting, sorrowful, agonized eyes—as if to say _'Look at me. Look what they did to me'_.

Joben knew he had to get out of there before the sight of those eyes would imprint itself to the back of his eyelids. Swallowing thickly, he stood, turned and walked away, corking the vial of a meager blood sample. As he reached the door he slowed—his heart was pulling at him to say something, anything to relieve the demon from his emotional anguish, for he knew the physical pain was punishment enough.

"I...I never told anyone what you said...about your, uh, daughter. So, um...she's, yeah..."

The "she's safe" was left unsaid, hanging in the air as Joben hurried out of the chamber to calm his rattled mind-frame. He didn't bother to watch for a response, for if he had, then he would have seen a single tear crawl out from the corner of an eye.

For the first time since he found himself on that altar, Naruto felt hope.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Huzzah! Yeah, so like I said above...it has been a while. And for that, I am truly sorry.

I know these last few chapters have held wide gaps in between them and I'm not going to bullshit you and say it'll get better: I've lost that constant updating pace that makes a slow-paced fic like this bearable. But I will make an effort. The beginning of a semester is usually easier, so I should have more time to write until about early March. Just before spring break is when shit tends to take a turn for the worse.

We'll see if I can get another update in before the holidays are over

Anyway, to those who stick with me, thanks for all your support. I really just write to entertain (myself mostly, but it's good to hear it works for other people as well)

It's time for me to get my numnums on.

**Next Chap**: Out of one frying pan and into another.


	32. Guilty Motives

******ATTENTION: See note in first chapter**

**Chapter 32**

'_His __suffering __is __his __cleansing,'_ Joben often told himself. _'The __impurities __within __his __body __which __condemned __him __will __leave __with __his __delusions. __We __are __helping __him; __it's __what __w e__do.'_

'_Please __let __it __be __what __we __do...'_

Joben was young to the monastery—frightfully so compared to his masters, the only survivors from the original Order. Therefore, calling his creed into question was an unrealistic violation.

But something left him disquieted, something obvious, and it became harder to ignore with each passing day of solitude.

He and his fellow disciples were sequestered into isolation for the last few years as part of their training—to fully detach themselves from the world, from all material and aerial things, to reach the next stage of enlightenment. They were not to concern themselves with current events.

Joben extracted himself from the world with assured faith that this path he had chosen for his life was the right one. He had been doing so well. Perhaps that was why he was chosen to accompany his Masters to a new location.

He thought this would be a great honor, that he was given a great opportunity to further his studies with personal guidance from the Masters. Instead, his training slipped. Too many basal human emotions were triggered after speaking with _Naruto_ that grounded his spirit and mind, guilt being the most profound. Guilt from withholding information from his masters. Guilt from doubting his masters. Guilt for unwittingly being party to what he believed his masters did.

His burning curiosity for the truth kept him from attaining further spiritual wisdom. This led to frustration, anger, and more guilt.

"_You __should __hate __me,"_Joben had whispered to the captive one evening before averting his gaze away from the piercing stare. He always had trouble maintaining eye contact with the man.

This usually directed his eyes to the festering open sore on the demon's forearm, which then had him turning to the larger, perished hole in Naruto's side.

In the end, Joben had turned his head from the sight all together.

"_I __can't __hate __you..."_ Naruto's voice came unbidden to his memory. "_You're __a __child...you're __only __doing __what __you've __been __brought __up __to __believe."_

Naruto spoke like a father would; like how a monk _should_—forgiving and understanding. In that moment, Joben knew he could not look at him, not with the tendrils of shame curling in his gut.

He recalled Naruto's next line, as though the other being could sense his line of thinking at the time.

"_Sage."_

"_What?"_

"_I'm...a __sage..."_

This had been the final straw for Joben, the motivating force that led him to scrounging though the modest archive located above the chamber. It was nothing compared to the ancient hall of information belonging to the Fire Temple—the home that he dearly missed—just one of the smaller side libraries installed in each of the Temple's two subunits.

He could see the rough mountain ranges from where the window faced. Instead of trees and lush forests, only rocks and earth met his sight which, while locals may appreciate it, he could not see the beauty in such a landscape. It was such a foreign looking terrain that he felt another wave of homesickness.

He regretted being so proficient in his studies; he wished he were never chosen for such a task. But of the three, identical, underground sacred-chambers this was the one they had to move Naruto to. It was furthest from Konoha, and no one but the monks knew of the underground network of tunnels that branched from the Temple. It was a network that stood before the time of the ninja. A network Joben was now privy to as a reward for his competence.

It was a network, Joben feared, that was being used to commit terrible crimes.

Joben's hand brushed along the spine of an Iwa bingo-book. All temples with trained ninja-monks were required to have a collection of them. He pulled it from the shelf and began leafing through the pages, rolling around in his mind what Naruto said to him.

Sage.

Yes, he recalled the Sage from Konoha...but that had been many years ago. The Toad Sage, he was called, Jiraiya-sama of the Sannin.

Joben's fingers moved faster, his eyes scanning the contents of each page rapidly.

But there had been an apprentice he knew of—two, in fact—the younger of which took over the title in Joben's childhood. _He_ could be the right age…

Joben's frantic flipping stopped and he saw the face. Fleshed out, handsome, tanned—bright, blue eyes instead of grey—but it was still him.

**Uzumaki Naruto.**

**Born of Konoha.**

**Age**—_twenty-four!_

Joben flipped to the inside cover of the book—it dated over a year old. Still…what could have happened to this man? He looked at least thirty!

**Rank: S-ranked**

**Container ****of ****the ****Kyuubi. ****Apprentice ****to ****Jiraiya ****of ****the ****Sannin. ****Speculated ****heir ****of ****the ****Yellow ****Flash.** **Toad ****summons****—****Toad **_**Sage**_**—**

Joben fell back against his chair, the uncomfortably hard craft digging into his shoulder blades. His mind blanked out.

Naruto told the truth. He was a medium of nature; a protector of their country.

What were they doing? What have they done? Had they actually stolen from Konoha?

Joben knew little of the Akatsuki before he began his training, only recently learning of them being an organization of philanthropists, contrary to whatever rumors may be circulating.

So, in whom could he trust?

Joben began flipping through the pages absently with slow precision and eyes unseeing. Trenchant shock resounded deeply within his body.

Naruto may have absorbed the demon—he may have become a demon—but he was a friend to Fire Country, wasn't he? The masters were so secretive about the whole operation—they moved Naruto to the very borders of the country to escape the wrath of Konoha.

They trusted the word of this Akatsuki; the word that Naruto harbored a skewed drive for world domination.

That fact alone should have tipped Joben off that something was amiss, but he knew better than to question his masters—he was meant to have faith in them like he had faith in their Gods. He was meant to trust in them that they wouldn't lead him astray.

Joben started at the face he now stared at in the bingo book.

It was a whole face, even familiar without the scales—

**Yakushi Kabuto.**

**Defector ****of ****Konoha. ****Multiple ****crimes ****against ****Konoha. ****Partner ****to ****Orochimaru**—_Orochimaru __of __the __Sannin, __slayer __of __the __Sandaime__—_

For the second time that day, Joben felt himself reeling back in perturbation. He felt nausea, acrid and mordant, chafing the back of his throat raw.

This was the man they were helping to harm Konoha's sage. Everything was backwards. Nothing made sense.

Grasping onto a sense of himself, Joben forcibly calmed his heart rate and rubbed his forehead.

His thoughts kept leading him back to the same conclusion: something was wrong. His brothers wouldn't have noticed it—the behavior changes were subtle and subdued on the surface of the ground—but the Masters weren't acting as they used to when they first began recruiting to rebuild the Temple. Their patience dwindled, as did their compassion.

The Masters must have known they couldn't keep the ninja off their tail forever. These days, the Masters left Joben at this station alone for days on end. Trusting him to continue his training in isolation away from his brothers. Trusting him to trust in them, wholly and obediently.

Enough was enough.

He had already broken the decree by seeking earthly knowledge before his training was over. Additional freethinking would not tarnish his training further.

He set to work on researching who exactly the Akatsuki were.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

The Rokudaime of Konohagakure felt nothing but abrading, itching, unrelenting agitation.

Konoha's Sage, Konoha's protector...his student, his friend...had been missing for four months. The circumstances surrounding the events were so frustrating he often dreamed of throwing down his hat and looking for Naruto himself. But Konoha needed her figurehead more than ever; the loss of their guardian had shaken the public and waved a flag of outstanding weakness to neighboring countries. He had to keep their economy running—he could not afford to spare all the ninja he wanted out there searching.

The first two months after the abduction sustained the most inspiration—an outraged village meant citizens who were willing to cheapen their lifestyles in order to impart more ninja for Naruto's search. The knowledge that other countries were on the hunt as well further fueled the drive; they could not keep the information of the young Toad Sage's abduction a secret no matter how tightly controlled they tried to keep the incident.

Naruto had become the treasure every nation coveted.

Unfortunately, like every treasure, the search for him did not come without consequences. Several ninja never returned from those searches, tipping Kakashi off that Akatsuki were not going to give up their boon so easily. Searching for Naruto posed a danger to their economy, yet without him they faced the same problem. Kakashi was caught between two opposing necessities and his own personal desires.

Worst of all, he felt guilt. Not from his initial fuck-up—though that particular blunder did continue to haunt him—but because the frantic need to save Naruto started to come more from what it could mean for the world if they never found him rather than friendship. Kakashi had begun to move into the mindset of a Hokage rather than a person; he was becoming his position...

...Just as his sensei had not long before he gave up his own child's normalcy to perform a village duty. He could see now, more than ever, why Naruto continued to deny his succession while Hitomi was so young. He was not simply because he needed to be a father—he _wanted_ to.

Kakashi tried to be objective about the case; it would not do to bypass any obvious hints because he was so emotionally attached to the victim. Still, it was hard to overlook how every trail led the searches right back to the Fire temple. The monks checked out all right—even the Fire Daimyo vouched for them. Why would their temple do anything to purposefully harm Konoha? Politically, it made no sense.

But instinctually...instinctually, Kakashi knew something was wrong with the entire situation.

How could such an accident occur in the first place? He mulled that question around in his head over and over throughout the weeks. The monks had to have known what would happen to a Jinchuuriki despite their defense that they had no postulation to the reaction a sealed demon would have to the barrier. They argued that so few Jinchuuriki throughout history had been scrutinized, let alone encountered such a situation.

They claimed they did not know Naruto was in the village.

They assured all ninja that they were simply doing what they were instructed to do.

Bull shit.

Kakashi's patience wore thin with the Fire Temple. The sincerity in Sentoki's remorse grew more false with every accusation and the Hokage's mind kept bringing him to three simple facts:

First off, Shizune was given a false lead; someone purposefully passed on the information that the Raikage was using spiritual barriers when, in fact, he was not.

Secondly, the monks pushed to put up those spiritual barriers, knowing where Naruto resided. For months beforehand, even.

Finally, the Akatsuki's coordination with the assembly and dismantling of those barriers played out too perfectly.

'_That __would __be __just __like __you, __Naruto__…__to __be __right __under __our __noses __again__…__'_ he thought ruefully. A half of a smile quirked his lips before guilt weighed down on him once more.

It had been too long. Who knew what horrors Naruto had experienced in the last several weeks? And doing nothing but sending people on wild goose chases, often to their deaths, felt so insignificant compared to what should be done.

Storming the Fire Temple without a warrant from the Daimyo was a bold move; it was sacred, not to mention neutral, Fire Country grounds. Additionally, no sense could be found in their own temple turning against the country's greatest asset.

And yet something continued to ring false...

"Shikamaru!" Kakashi called to the man who was never far off from his office. The young man had taken over the point of advisor, Shizune moving her efforts to the Konoha Hospital to be by Tsunade-sama's side.

Seconds later, Shikamaru pushed through the door, face drawn in its usual scowl. Lines started to deepen around his mouth over the last year—the last few months truly securing the aged features.

"I'm sending another investigative team to the Temple. I want a full sweep of it."

At Shikamaru's unresponsive silence, Kakashi expatiated his statement.

"I know it's not ethical—it won't look good, continuing to accuse them of playing a part to Naruto's..._relocation_—but I want the most thorough sweep done to date. If they did have anything to do with it, then they've more than likely let their guard down by this point. And Akatsuki won't expect us to keep hammering at the temple, especially after we've backed off for a while. If you can, get a small team inside there. I want you to tear the place apart if you have to—just find _something_."

"They're ninja monks. They won't take this lying down," Shikamaru advised, though his voice sparked with fervor not heard in many months. Excitement radiated from his posture, as though he had been waiting for some time to hear these orders. Perhaps, he, too, felt something was amiss. "And we shouldn't care about _why_ they may or may not have done this. It's just that, if they did, then they conspired with the Akatsuki, and that's treason. Treason gives us warrant to openly search the temple."

Kakashi smirked, "Out of your ass, kid, but it's good enough. I'll deal with whatever bitching we get from the monks or Daimyo. We can't afford to play nice with them anymore. I feel like we're running out of time. For now, I want a team assembled—"

The door, still partially ajar from Shikamaru's slow entrance, swung fully open as a ninja who worked in dispatch came barreling in, a thin letter clutched in his hand.

"Sir!" the man's face appeared drained of blood and the word tumbled out of his mouth in a single, haggard breath. "Hokage-sama, it's the Akatsuki...they've got the Hachibi!"

Everything stopped. Kakashi felt his entire world freeze with those words.

"What?" he whispered, already standing from his chair. He met Shikamaru's own appalled stare to confirm his hearing.

"They've caught the Hachibi," the ninja repeated. "Kumo is requesting our aid in the retrieval party."

Kakashi completely disregarded the latter statement. Their alliance with Kumo was only strong because of Naruto...and Naruto was as good as dead. They weren't running out of time—they were already out.

And when you were out of time, you no longer needed to play by the rules.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Naruto could virtually sense the chaotic energy approaching before the monk's face flew overview.

Or, that's what he'd tell himself in retrospect, because he was sure there must have been a time when he could sense all kinds of energy.

"They got him! They got him, you beast!"

A shadow of dementia tarried within the man's eye, a darkness that had been spreading over the course of Naruto's stay. The monk had the look of someone who had suffered under too much poison for too long. Irreparable.

Like Naruto's own body.

Naruto didn't need to wonder who 'he' was that the monk spoke of. His stomach would have plummeted to the tips of his hipbones if he had any such sensations any more. And if he were not lying horizontal.

Kirabi. Akatsuki had finally captured the only Jinchuuriki left aside from himself. His own brother, in a sense.

Emotions his body had long since been purged of returned. For the briefest of moments, Naruto's sorrow for Kirabi overshadowed the gravity of the situation before the timeline continued within his mind.

Akatsuki would be coming for him next—and he wouldn't have the strength or power to defend himself. And after that...

After that, everything would go to hell. Konoha would be screwed; either Danzo would take over and turn the once peaceful (by shinobi standards) village into a tyrannical force or Madara would go back on his word to the nuke-nin and raze his hometown to the ground.

Even then, if Hitomi weren't in Konoha, she'd still be unprotected. Disparity settled deeply in his chest when he realized he would never see his daughter again.

Hitomi better not be in Konoha in the first place, not after what happened to him.

Naruto was never going to let Kakashi babysit—

_FUCK!_ Naruto swore within himself, cursing at his demolished attention span. _Kirabi's __going __to __die, __I'm __going __to __die__… __essentially __the __whole __fucking __world __is __going __to __die __and __I'm __thinking __about _babysitters_?_

Opening his eyes, he realized the monk had left—it had been Sentoki, too. He didn't like Sentoki.

_Even if I did get out of here, what good would I be? Would I ever be able to be a ninja again? Or protect anybody? No, the answer is no. I'll be fucking useless forever._

His bout of self-depreciation ended almost as soon as it began.

_Stop __pitying __yourself,_ he scolded, trying, and failing, to scowl. _You __need __to __be __clear __of __mind __for __your __last __lonely, __painful __days __of __existence._

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"How long do you think the extraction will take?" Ino asked her two other companions as they flew towards their country's temple. She had not been there since her sensei's brutal murder.

Kiba and Neji flanked her sides, the three of them keeping pace with one another with practiced ease.

"It took three days for them to manage to get the Ichibi from Gaara-sama with nine Akatsuki, so with their current number of...What? Two?"

"Pein, Tobi," Ino counted off, "team Hawk Naruto already took out...so yeah, two. Wow."

"Though Pein could be using his many bodies..." Kiba suggested. Neji shook his head.

"Their source of chakra is still the same even if it can be utilized through different vessels. Even if their host had massive amounts of chakra, I would wager that two extra bodies would be the maximum addendums given that situation."

"What about Kabuto?" Ino questioned. Before leaving Konoha, they reviewed all past information Naruto gathered regarding Akatsuki. Naruto had Kabuto down as a suspected associate of the organization but then written him off after not detecting any activity from the man. After examining the exceptional cadaver left in the hospital from Naruto's kidnapping, both Tsunade-sama and the Hokage believed Kabuto needed to go back on the list of suspects.

"They could be using the monks, too," Kiba added with a nod, "if it turns out they have Naruto."

"So, possibly seven at the most," Neji concluded. "And as that is a baseless, uneducated guess, I would say the Hachibi has more than three days, but less than six."

A shadow passed overhead; Sai on his inked bird. They were the squad of four chosen for the mission, a group of trackers and interrogators that would not be turned away.

It was a risk Kakashi had taken; Konoha could very well end up a permanent enemy of the Fire Temple—either they were mistaken and the Temple cut ties with the country's ninja village, or they were correct and the Fire Temple would end up condemned for treason.

Sakura, Lee, Gai, and Konohamaru, along with two other squads from Cloud were sent on the Kirabi rescue. Kakashi failed to mention his plan to storm the Fire Temple to Sakura lest she become compromised and start to disobey orders. They knew the generalities of where extraction was to take place; the squad sent there was needed for power, meaning Sakura would be more useful for such a mission.

Ino felt guilty for withholding information from her best friend. Sakura had been subdued and frantic all at once since Naruto's kidnapping and Ino wanted nothing more than to quell the woman's fears.

"There it is," Kiba muttered as they broke through the trees to see the dirt courtyard of the temple. Sai had already landed and stood on the top of the sandstone steps.

"Show time," Neji mumbled and they set forth into the eerily quiet temple.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Naruto stared bleakly at the high-arched ceiling. For the first time in a long time, he felt numb. Wouldn't it be great if, on the eve of his death, he suddenly learned to block out the pain? That would be great.

So great…

He couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not. He forgot what sarcasm sounded like. The monks weren't sarcastic. The ceiling wasn't sarcastic. The back of his eyelids weren't sarcastic.

"Uzumaki Naruto..."

Naruto's eyes flew open at the sound of his full name. The monks must have known it, but he did not think _this _one knew it. He strained his peripheral vision, seeing Joben slowly walking toward him, pale and tight faced.

Naruto's eyes locked on the bingo book in his hand. Seeing where Naruto's vision lay, Joben managed a weak smile.

"I don't know what's right anymore," the young monk confessed; "if I should be listening to my masters or my heart. You...you aren't..._bad_."

Joben looked at the book in his hands, remembering the picture of a much younger-looking, healthier Naruto and trying to overlap it with the broken body before him.

"Neither are...you..."

Joben's lip quivered at the strangled words, stopping a good five feet away from the altar.

"They caught the Hachibi—it's all anyone's talking about."

"I know."

"They'll be coming for you next, soon enough."

"I know."

"What—" Joben licked his lips, "what would you do if they didn't come? If you were free?"

Naruto was fairly certain he had told the boy before, but humored him anyway.

"I...just want...to—to see...my baby...again."

Joben nodded as if expecting the answer and looked down at the book in his hand once more. The Sage gave no talk of revenge or any sort of retribution, nor had any been expected.

Naruto watched as some color returned to the kid's face. Joben fell into a stance, resolute and resigned, and turned away. Soft muttering echoed about the hall, just loud enough for Naruto to catch glimpses of it.

"You crave to return to your family, and so you suffer...craving causes suffering and...your suffering will end when your craving ends..."

_Is __he...praying __for __me?_Naruto asked himself incredulously. He could not remember a time when anyone had ever prayed for him...ever. Who would? At the end of the day, he was still demonic.

"I pray that you reach enlightenment, end your suffering, end your delusions…"

_He_ is _praying __for __me,_ Naruto realized and he would have smiled sadly if he had the energy._He's __a __good __kid. __Silly, __but __good._

Joben's walk drew to a stop, just under the same archway he entered. To Naruto's utter disbelief, the boy's arm slowly stretched towards one of the seals by the door. The one that had the small tear in the corner that allowed him to talk.

This could still be a trap, a trick to cause him more pain.

But if not...

"Nothing is permanent," Joben whispered, glancing over his shoulder. "You have ten minutes."

With a short jerk of his arm, he yanked at the snag, ripping the seal three-quarters of the way down, not even removing the paper entirely, but still ruining the inked design. The reaction was instantaneous.

A movement of power swept through the air as the barrier lost its foundation and a pressure that had enraptured Naruto for so long vanished.

Naruto could breathe.

He didn't know how much he _couldn't_ breathe until he could once more. The agony that ripped through him both lessened and augmented as the oppressive spiritual blanket lifted.

His chest heaved, up and down, the muscles of his diaphragm aching after such a long stagnation. His rankled wound pulsed angrily, but he could hardly care. Oxygen, this movement, this weightless feeling...it felt wonderful! It burned and blood began to gush from his wounds and his stomach felt like it was eating itself—but it still felt wonderful!

Mentally slapping himself for wasting time, Naruto turned his head toward the doorway Joben just retreated from, making note of how badly his neck muscles reacted to being used. He zeroed his vision on the exit and made it his first target. Now, he just had to maneuver his body without falling apart.

Gripping the knobby edges of the altar, Naruto tried to push himself into a seated position only for his side to flare warningly and his arm muscles to give out under his weight.

He collapsed back onto the slab of stone, bumping his already pounding head against the hard surface.

_Shit._

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Groaning bodies of robed, adolescent monks littered Fire Temple's stone floors; those still conscious were left to wonder at what just happened.

The trainees had been under the impression that Konoha was their ally. They often studied about the advantageous relationship shared between the temple and village. So when four of its ninja showed up and, with out warning, trounced the young monks with vicious, effective attacks, they hardly knew to put up much of a fight. Their training, which could take decades to synch movements with virtue, was not enough to present much of a defense against four, seasoned jounin.

Only one master monk was present, and he currently suffered under the crushing weight of Akamaru. Neji and Sai stood on either side of the man as the only female of their group went from novice to novice, seeking any justification that would make their sudden attack on Fire Country property legal.

"I got it!" Ino finally called, stepping back from a slumped-over young monk. The poor kid had a glazed look to his eye and a bit of drool suspended from his bottom lip.

"I love it when you mind-rape people," Kiba breathed as Ino strode by him to crouched in front of Zenza's form. The once proud monk looked livid, both at the intrusion of Konoha and his degrading position underneath a dog.

"Zenza, is it?" Ino said rhetorically. "Want to tell us where the other two are?"

Predictably, Zenza remained silent.

"What did you find out?" Neji asked Ino.

The woman stood from her squat, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she moved.

"The kids don't know what the monks are doing down there—in fact, they don't know much at all. They're kept pretty ignorant about things outside of the Temple."

"Standard training," Neji interjected.

"_But,_" Ino emphasized, frowning at Neji for interrupting, "they do know there's a secret chamber underneath the temple...and it's fingerprint access only. That's pretty nifty technology. I don't believe it's very common in monasteries."

She finished her report with significant look towards Zenza.

"Outside help?" Sai suggested.

"Definitely caught a glimpse of someone installing it...hooded though, very hazy. This is something only this guy and his friends would know," Ino continued to stare at Zenza's face longingly, as though she wanted nothing more than to tear the man's mind apart.

"Try it," Zenza snarled.

"Give me some credit," Ino scoffed. The greater monks were known within the Yamanaka clan to have extraordinary defenses of the mind. Enough so that he could trap her away from her body for an extended period of time. Her team did not have that sort of time to waste.

"I see it," Neji said, his byakugan activated. The Hyuuga and the Fire Temple held a long-standing pack that dated back since the beginning of their clan: they were not to use the byakugan on Fire Temple grounds, as it was a breach of sacred security. The Hyuuga never had a reason to do so before, but after breaking into the compound and beating much of its inhabitants into submission, Neji felt one more breach on propriety wouldn't kill him.

"I see the stairs and the chamber. But...there's nothing in it!"

Zenza grinned as Kiba's outraged cry of "What?" echoed throughout the hall. The bodies of some nearby monks twitched in response to the sudden noise.

"Having a chamber under there, as well as having some secret, high-tech method of reaching it is suspect enough," Ino declared, though the uncertainty in her voice was palpable. They could get into huge trouble with the Fire Lord if they had nothing to show for their subversion.

"That chamber is older than Konoha itself, you stupid girl," Zenza rasped. "It's more sacred than anything else in this land. Ancient! Since the time of the first monks!"

"Then why suddenly bother adding some technological security measure?" Ino shot back. "Had a new reason to keep people out of there recently?"

"Wait," Neji whispered, cutting off Zenza's retort. The single word brought hope to all four ninja. "There's a tunnel—no—two tunnels. They branch away from the chamber. One heading northwest and one to the southeast."

"What do they lead to? Is Naruto at the end of one?" Kiba asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Neji shook his head, deactivating his byakugan, "They stretch far out of my range."

"I'll stay with the captives," Sai volunteered. He wanted desperately to find Naruto himself, to make sure his friend would be okay and bring him back safely to his daughter, but he knew he had the skills best for detainment. That and interrogation and tracking were best left to his temporary team members. He pulled out a scroll and whisked his paintbrush across the blank canvas, bringing several sketchy snakes to life.

"Right," Kiba said appreciatively as Akamaru lifted himself off Zenza. One of the snakes wound tightly around the monk's body before he could make any move to escape. "We'll be back before you know it."

"Preferably with Naruto," Ino added.

"Send word to Hokage-sama," Neji ordered Sai. "Tell him what we found and that we're going to follow the tunnels. Ino, Kiba, let's go."

The trio set off towards the entrance to the hidden stairwell, spending no more than three seconds in blasting it open. The end of every torn and hanging wire shot sparks at their heads, revealing the electrical operating unit within the door.

Sai listened to the sounds of their progress as he began to fashion himself a carrier bird.

"You're making a mistake," Zenza hissed, struggling against the strong binds of animated ink. "You'll find nothing!"

Sai did not bother to spare the man a glance.

"You would have been more cooperative if that were true."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

He had to get out. He knew he did, he had such a great opportunity, such great motivation. The door was _right_ _there_.

But damn did it hurt.

To get off the altar, Naruto had to roll to the edge and try to ease himself down to the floor, a procedure that ended with him gracelessly landing on his hands and knees. He froze for a moment, shocked to be looking at the floor rather than the ceiling. Simply feeling his very own weight underneath him again unnerved him, but he knew he had not the time to explore the sensation. From there, it was one jerky move after another. Half crawling, half stumbling, he became more aware of the damage in his body as he tried to make it out of the pit in which he had spent an unspeakable amount of time.

His head buzzed and a new kind of intangible restraint made itself known to him. Enervation: pure, hard-hitting exhaustion made his eyes feel like they were being pushed into his sockets and the room to keep seesawing. He had not slept in what felt like forever and his mind became aware that sleeping was now an option.

The pain he labored under was rather different from what he was used to. He could breathe and move now, and while the steady burn of being purified was muted to the back of his mind, starvation, atrophy, and open, infected wounds demanded his attention. He hardly cared.

Despite the nausea and hunger and exhaustion and weakness, despite his wasted muscles and weeping wounds and cannibalistic chakra, despite every disadvantage he suffered under...Naruto could not have been happier about finally having control of his body again. If he were to collapse on the ground and shut his mind down, it would be by his choice and not some spiritual induced coma. Simply knowing that invigorated him enough to keep moving an otherwise inoperative body. Because he could.

It took approximately three minutes to cross a distance that should have taken five seconds. Naruto imagined a healthier, more able, version of himself doing a victory dance the second his hand hit the stone archway. He seriously contemplated wasting time tearing up the suppression seal by his head, but then thought the better of it. He had a schedule to follow. See his daughter, and then save the world. He was a busy man. He had no time for cockamamie whimsies.

The hall beyond the chamber was dim, but manageable, and led down a straight and narrow path far beyond what his sight allowed. Through his drooping eyelids, he could see a second option—his option out. It was a stone stairwell leading upward with the tallest steps seen from his position illuminated by a heavily filtered light. Light he suspected to be sunlight.

He could hardly remember what sun felt like against his skin...or any warmth, for that matter.

_I am in desperate need of vitamin D...Shit—I probably have rickets!_

He began to shuffle forward, reaching the staircase. After a single attempt to step onto the first stair while using only the wall for support, Naruto was soon forced to realize that he would be crawling up the steps. Which looked to rise for close to four stories.

_And I'll need just about every other nutrient, too. Fuck my life._

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Kakashi lowered Sai's letter from his line of sight, his eyes unfocused as he mutely handed it off to Shikamaru.

"They found an underground passage," he needlessly summarized. "Most of this info is gleaned from the minds of the monks in training—they didn't know much. The rest is from Sai's personal interrogation. It was the older monks who were behind it..."

He trailed off, allowing Shikamaru to gather the rest for himself. Kakashi did not know how to feel. Should he feel happy? Happy that he was right in his hunch? Happy that Konoha would not receive censure for attacking their allies?

Or upset? Upset that the Fire Temple was behind this, after all. Upset that he had not acted on his intuition sooner.

"They've been acting strange for a while now..." he muttered, referring to the elder monks. Sai's report mentioned behavior switching between hostile and subdued as well as constricted, nearly unresponsive, pupils. "I should have realized sooner...I shouldn't have been so focused on...on our income, and..."

Shikamaru put down the letter, an odd frown on his face.

"This makes no sense," he growled, raising a hand to his chin in a thinking pose. "The Fire Temple would never willingly help the Akatsuki—not after what Hidan and Kakuzu did—there's just no way to spin it. Especially the older monks; they understood better than anyone the importance of stopping Akatsuki, the importance of Naruto. I mean, they're monks for fuck's sake! They should be vying for peace, not enabling terrorism!"

Kakashi took the letter back, glancing over the contents again, "I think that still holds true. Apparently, this Zenza believes Naruto's the one responsible for the demon's escape—which he is—but it sounds like they're under the impression that Naruto is plotting world domination."

Despite himself, Shikamaru snorted. "Naruto won't even dominate Konoha, let alone the world. He would never aspire for that much responsibility. Not with Hitomi around."

"Explain that to the monks," Kakashi sighed, throwing the letter back on his desk. "Sounds like Akatsuki have greater powers of persuasion than we thought."

The two men lapsed into silence, both geniuses baffled by the conundrum before them.

Indignation began to overcome Kakashi's usually calm countenance. Even if the Temple believed Naruto had sinister plans, why go as far as to saddle up with the Akatsuki? Why not consult Konoha about it? Or the Fire Daimyo? What had them so sure in their beliefs that they were willing to commit treason without getting the facts straight?

Shikamaru seemed to be in the same mind frame.

"There has to be something we're missing," he mused. "Something that could explain such a serious change of loyalties over conspiracy theories."

"We know they have outside help. Someone's been installing new technology to help protect chambers that haven't been used in centuries," Kakashi offered, realizing it did not provide much assistance with their brainstorming. "Kabuto could be responsible for that—"

"Kabuto has a silver tongue, but he's not that good. Plus, he had a well-known association with Orochimaru. The monks would have known before he set foot on Temple grounds not to trust him." Shikamaru's voice turned faint and his eyes lost focus. "And yet, all the monks that matter seem to be on board with Akatsuki...only the few that had influence over the Temple..."

"You onto something?" Kakashi asked, recognizing the expression on Shikamaru's face as one of dawning.

"I'm not sure," Shikamaru answered truthfully, narrowing his eyes as nothing in particular.

Kakashi wanted to help prompt whatever proposal Shikamaru stumbled upon along. "Where do you suppose the other monks were? With Naruto?"

"No," Shikamaru said at once. More things began to fall into place. "They're participating in the extraction, which means...which means wherever Naruto is...I'm pretty sure it's close to the extraction site."

The proposal, coupled with using the words "Naruto", "extraction" and "site" stole the breath from Kakashi's lungs for a moment. It sounded as if Akatsuki would start on Naruto right after Kirabi.

"Are you saying," he began slowly, wanting to make sure he understood correctly, "it could be more likely that Gai's team would find him than Neji's?"

"Yes, I believe that's the case."

"And they're keeping Naruto close, because..."

"Because it's taken them this long to plan, capture and preserve Naruto, and they're not letting the opportunity go to waste."

Kakashi made a face of distaste.

"Bastards," he swore. "Those damn bastards. All of this could have been avoided if the monks had just talked to us. There was no need for it—for Naruto or the barrier or any of it. It's just mindless."

The only thing keeping Kakashi from further ranting was the transition on Shikamaru's face from dawning comprehension to fervid disbelief.

"Shikamaru? What—?"

"I...I think we overlooked something...it wasn't just Kabuto...it—" he mouthed out the word "mindless" a couple times, his nebulous vision trailing around the room. Then he was staring at Kakashi's face, hard. Like he could see right through his mask.

"Can you try forming a full sentence for me so I can follow along?" Kakashi asked in all seriousness. Shikamaru shook his head, as though waking from a dream. Instead of explaining a hidden thought process to his Hokage, Shikamaru strode towards the door.

"Hey—!"

"I need to look something up real quick, and then I'm going to follow Gai's team," the younger man muttered all in one breath. "I'll keep you posted if I turn out to be right."

Before Kakashi could make a protest, the door to his office had already shut.

"Right about what?" he sighed into the empty room.

Exasperation aside, Kakashi had no intention of going after or trying to impede Shikamaru in any way. He knew he was going to go down in history as the most lenient Hokage ever to govern Konohagakure. But what could he do with an entire generation of exceptional ninja just below him? They each worked best in their own unique ways; they each excelled following their own rules. Who was he to interfere with their styles? If the greatest genius Konoha had produced since The Professor thought he was onto something, something that would save Naruto, then he would let the man do his thing.

Kakashi remained seated for another full minute and forty-seven seconds before getting up to follow Shikamaru.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

For the life of him, Kiba could not fathom why the monks needed to construct an underground tunnel that went on for miles. Very long miles, at that. It seemed like forever that he and Akamaru travelled the dark halls; covering so much ground that, without the usual obstacles such as trees and villages, he may have crossed half the length of Fire Country in less than five hours.

He could smell kerosene from the unlit torches that surely lined the walls and the fusty, stale air that only decades of quietness could have caused. Without his sense of scent, he would have been completely blind in the unlit passage; he was too far under the ground for even cracks in the structure to shed light for his eyes.

Akamaru barked, the heavy noise repeating itself over and over again as it traveled down the hall in both directions.

"What is it, boy?"

He barked again.

"The ocean?" Kiba mumbled, sniffing again. He held back a sneeze as uprooted dust and filth flooded his nostrils. Beneath the mildew and abandonment was a briny undertone. Sniffing again confirmed the new scent intensified.

"We must be nearing the coast!" Kiba exclaimed. Akamaru yipped his agreement and then, in a lower, whining tone, added another observation.

Kiba frowned.

"No...I don't smell Naruto, either."

Both tunnels had been in disuse for far too long. The monks obviously knew better than to frequent them while a manhunt for their captive went on.

"Oh, well, they're not as fast as me, but Neji and Ino must be getting closer to the end of the other tunnel. Think we should turn around now or see this to the end just in case?"

The responding bark coincided with his thoughts.

"Yeah, it would suck if it turned out he was here and we had to go down this all over again. Besides, Neji and Ino can handle themselves against whatever's waiting for them."

They could reach the end, check out, and then turn around, covering the length of both tunnels at top speed. It wouldn't take them more than a day. That meant there was still plenty of time to find and save Naruto, right?

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

Naruto pushed through another handful of sparse underbrush and stumbled against a tree, still unused to shifting his weight. The rough bark scraped against his cheek but he welcomed the new sensation to his skin—anything to distract him from the constricting pain in his core and the cruel reality that was now his body.

When he first exited the ground level of the shrine, smells and feelings he had long since forgotten assaulted him. The sun nearly rendered him sightless despite the comfort of its warm rays; thankfully it had an invigorating effect that kept up his motivation to keep moving. Fresh, wet earth and bedewed patches of grass cushioned and cooled his bare feet. The moistness of the humid air hydrated him more than he had been in his entire absence while nearly suffocating his enfeebled lungs at the same time. The sorely missed scent of soil and green leaves and moss and rain and pine anchored his sanity a little more securely, it reeled in his mind, forced him to realize, to accept, where he was and what was happening.

He was free, and yet, he wasn't. Not yet.

Surrounding the shrine were trees, not enough to create a forest (and he did not know how he knew this), just deep enough to hide him from immediate view should someone come looking for him. He began in a direction he believed to be south. It would have helped immensely if he knew what time it was supposed to be or had the cognitive ability to better calculate his position from the sun and wind direction.

Naruto felt safer when he staggered past the first line of trees into the shaded safety of the woodland. Familiar terrain helped bring back memories he was once unsure of in full detail—training, meditating, leisure—and he became certain that he used to spend a lot of time in the forest. He felt at home here.

On the upside, he currently was not being actively targeted, or held down, or experiencing any other unpleasantness brought on by his hosts. On the downside, he was still on holy ground. Ergo, moving hurt.

He bled faster; not as fast as he could have been were there no spiritual energies, but a trail of blood still stippled his path behind him. At the pace he moved coupled with his inability to use any form of stealth at all, tracking him down would not be difficult. Knowing this kept his heart beating rapidly, it kept pushing one foot in front of the other, no matter how increasingly difficult it became to move.

More than once, darkness overcame his vision. Only for a second—panic kept him from succumbing—but he would suddenly find himself on his knees, his progress halted.

His body started to slow and it began to give out on him. He had lost too much blood; his chakra was still in a atrophic state. He was dying.

"C-come on," he grunted softly, using his hands on a tree to pull himself from his knees. He refused to look back, knowing the holy grounds had to end somewhere. He could make it; he _had_ to make it. He had come so far, he couldn't fall unconscious, only to be found and brought back.

He would die, they would kill Konoha, kill everyone, his—

Light intensified around him and Naruto lifted his head to see the trees thinning.

Hope flared in his chest before Naruto fell once more. This time, his stomach heaved as his knees collided with the ground and blood spilled from his mouth. Naruto hardly paid any mind, his focus solely on the tops of the ferns where open sky began.

That was where the Temple grounds ended—he just knew it. Then he would be free. He would breathe again—really breathe—and he would heal.

Darkness encroached along the corners of his vision and he began to lose the feeling in his legs. His body began to numb and the increasing number of scrapes and scratches continued to remain unhealed in a most mortal fashion, but edge of the forest drew closer and he pushed his way along tree after tree, reaching for an unfamiliar skyline.

Finally, after a period of time he would never recall as long or short, he made it; he fell out from the shallow forest. Naruto experienced a brief moment of feeling all spiritual atmospheres leave his body—the greatest feeling in the world as far as he was concerned, almost weightless. Then he realized that the weightless feeling was due to the ground disappearing beneath his feet, seconds before he tumbled down the edge of a shallow ravine.

His body was so damaged, so broken at this point, that he hardly registered the added injuries. Unsure of how long he fell—it could have been ten feet or fifty—Naruto found, at the end, that he could not open his eyes. They were uninjured; he simply did not possess the energy to move any part of his body—including his eyelids.

Groggy, dazed and disoriented, the newly freed man only registered three things. He was lying down, he was out of the temple's grasp, and he had no idea where he was.

All in all, Naruto felt this was the perfect opportunity to fall unconscious.

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

"What in the hell...? Oi! Captain, check this out!"

A wide-shouldered, boulder of a man stepped away from the rest of his squadron, the symbol of Iwagakure on his hitai-ate flashed in the sunlight as he turned his head toward his subordinate's find.

He recognized the body immediately.

"That's—!"

The rest of his team immediately gathered around, hearing the uncommon tenor of shock in their captain's voice.

"Look at him! It's him." The ninja who found the body took out his bingo book, jabbing his finger at a dog-eared page. "Uzumaki Naruto. We found him!"

"Hmm," the leader grunted. "He looks a bit different, but I suppose it all fits into place—he was kidnapped a few months ago, wasn't he?"

"And not by the nicest of folk," another ninja added, grimacing at the critically mangled body.

"He's...he's alive, right?" his teammate whispered. "I mean—I just don't see how anyone could still survive that condition. But it looks like he's breathing..."

"That's not all he looks like," an older-looking shinobi whispered, staring at the rare shade of blond hair and familiar bone structure.

"Taichi—"

"Look at him! NO! Look at him," the man named Taichi insisted. "He looks just like him—the fabled slaughterer!"

A hushed silence befell the group as they stared a moment longer at the unconscious form of Uzumaki Naruto. Then, without a word, the leader stepped forward and scooped the smaller man up, throwing the limp body over his shoulder like a sack of rice. He turned to his team and grinned.

"Then he's worth more than we originally thought."

0o0o0o

* * *

0o0o0o

So Naruto escaped finally captivity. It was never meant to be a long or time consuming arc—I wanted to describe it as seeming long to him since he couldn't sleep or move, but it was only supposed to cover one or two chapters and then be over. Unfortunately, I hit this part of the fic as my life became a whirlwind of mental tragedy—so it may have seemed the fic itself literally spent months covering Naruto's captivity. That is not what I wanted, and I'm sorry if it dragged anyone down.

In the next couple chapters, people are going to start dying and I'll slowly start to wrap things up. This could still cover several chapters depending on how I figure out how to word it. Don't hold your breath. I may only have a month left of school but the brutality continues to rise every week T_T Seriously...don't look too into that HP fic I added...I just felt so bad about not posting ANYTHING that I threw up an ancient drabble on my hard drive.

It did not satisfy me.

Thank you **DarkHeroOrion** for betaing. It is still unbelievable the stupid shit I overlook again and again.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed, let me know what you think, and have a great Easter for anyone who celebrates it!

**Next****chap:** Naruto meets an old contact and is forced to face a part of his past he wanted to bury.

If I ever get around to it.


End file.
